Requiem For a Loud - Fan made ending
by rctperson85
Summary: Ever since the story, "Requiem for a Loud" by UnderratedHero came out, people have been wondering and writing about their own representations and versions of how it will end. This is my own personal vision of how I would like it to end. Note: this is not the official ending for it! The story is not finished yet. Please, tell me what you think! Rated T for the feels.
1. Part One - Loss

May I have your attention for just a minute or two! (maybe three if you read slow) First of all, thanks for reading this fan-made ending to Requiem of a Loud by UnderratedHero (It's a really good story btw, go check it out!). I'm not going to spoil it for you (I mean this story, not the original), but I am going to tell you that you will be surprised to find that there is more than one part at the end of this one. I really like how I've done it so far and I am still working on the second part. I don't know when it will be out, but I can tell you that it will definitely come out before the end of the month. Again this is not the official ending of the story, it is just the way that I would like it to end. I can almost guarantee that the real story will not end like this one (although it would be cool if it did!) Anyway, enjoy the first part of my fan-made ending of "Requiem for a Loud"

 **Part One - Loss.**

"Lincoln!"

Everyone rushed over to see him laying on the ground, unconscious, but not dead; not yet. Lisa rushed to the scene with a full body scanner to see what the problem was. All of them knew what he had, but despite him having comforted them about his eventual passing, they still freaked out every time something like this happened.

"Everyone, move out of the way. There needs to be optimal space around his body in order for this scan to be fully rectified!"

Lisa took a device from her back pocket, pressed a button and immediately started scanning Lincoln for anomalies. After about five seconds, the device beeped and started flashing red. Slowly, Lisa read the results of the scan and upon finishing it, hung her head.

"He is alive. Unconscious, but alive." The rest of the girls let out a sigh of relief at first but then tensed up again upon hearing Lisa's next sentence. "That being said, he won't be for much longer. I'm giving him an hour, tops." The family genius could barely contain herself saying that. She tried to convince herself that he wasn't going to die. But the facts were all there, and they had to be presented, whether she wanted to or not.

"What if he doesn't wake up before then?!" the worried twins ask.

"Listen to me you guys..." Lori comforted, trying not to break into tears herself. "We have all tried to make sure he has had the best time of his life these past two and a half weeks, right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, smiling just a little bit. "Then we all need to stop worrying. If Lincoln doesn't wake up before he... before he... he..." Lori was beginning to break down thinking about her brother finally passing. It was not something that was easy to face for any of them. Their only brother, dying, possibly painfully, just the thought of it made it feel like a knife was slowly easing itself down on their chests. All those feelings aside, she was quickly able to regain control of herself, for the sake of her siblings. "Before he... passes... then none of us should feel bad or guilty or anything like that. We'll know, all of us, that we were there for him until the very end."

The eight sisters that understood what was going on all smiled slightly. Lily hobbled over to where Lincoln was laying, sat down, and started babbling incoherently, patting his face in an attempt to wake him up. She was so adorable, yet so innocent and oblivious. She was the only one who wasn't and couldn't feel the way the others could, and if the rest of them were being honest with themselves, they were slightly envious that she couldn't feel that way.

Leni picked her baby sister up and the rest of them helped carry Lincoln to the couch. It so happened that if the cushions were taken off, the couch was able to fold out to become a bed. They pulled it out and placed a few pillows on the head of it. It wasn't exactly the most comfortable bed, but Lincoln had already tested it and said that it would work. Once it was ready they put him down on it.

"Lincoln's going to wake up again. I know he will," Lola claimed.

"Yeah," Lana chimed in. "He'll wake up again."

They all needed Lola and Lana's confidence right now. The rest of them weren't so sure that he would come to again. Nevertheless, they gathered around his bed. This was what he wanted. He didn't want to be rushed to the hospital in the last few minutes of his life. Being in a hospital bed, hooked up to a bunch of different machines and tubes was the last thing he wanted. Besides, he might have not even made it to the hospital on time to say his final goodbyes. His sisters didn't want that for him either, so they agreed to do this when he asked. Rita and Lynn Sr were obviously reluctant at first, but they did eventually understand the reason why and approved of the plan.

Twenty minutes passed and Lincoln opened his eyes. Every one of his sisters were on either side of the bed looking down at the floor. The only exception was Lily who seemed to be distracted by Leni's sunglasses. Trying to keep himself from getting too down at the way his other sisters were acting, he chuckled at how cute Lily was being. After all, he wasn't going to see anything else this light-hearted again. Immediately all of his sisters looked at him with bright smiles on their faces.

"Linky! You're awake!"

"Yeah Leni, I am."

Lily cooed at Lincoln as Leni put her down on the bed. She crawled on top of him and curled up on his chest, eliciting a series of "aww's" from the rest of his sisters. She fell asleep as he wrapped his arms around her.

Lola and Lana were the next ones to get on the bed with him. Despite how rough they may have treated him, he was always there for them; always coming up with a compromise to stop them from fighting. They loved him. And probably more than he realized.

"Please don't go..." Lana sniffled with tears streaming down her face. She plopped her head, which was slightly turned sideways, down on his shirt, beginning to stain it with her tears.

"Please Linky... We... We love you..." Lola proceeded to do the same thing Lana did, except on the opposite side.

"I don't know what we're gonna do without you bro..." Luna chirped.

"You'll move on..." Lincoln responded, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. He knew that there wasn't much else he could say. He was dying and his sisters were all well aware of that so it seemed like the only thing to say.

"Whaddaya mean? We can't just move on!" Luan quipped.

"Yes, you can and you will!" The room went silent at the sudden command that was given. Even Lincoln was surprised with the ferocity with which he gave it, but they needed to hear it. "Listen guys, I know it's gonna be hard at first, but you will eventually have to move on, with or without me."

"But how are we gonna do it? To half of your sisters, you've been there for them their whole lives. It's gonna be so different."

"I know it will, and I hate to have to say this, but if you love me and you love this family, then you'll pull together and get through it. No exceptions."

He was absolutely right and they all knew it. If they didn't continue like nothing was wrong, the Louds would fall into complete chaos. They could mourn for a few weeks but after that they had to pull themselves together and be the family that they needed to be. The family that only they could be. They had to do it for him. But they also had to do it for Lily, because she wouldn't remember anything and if she saw them depressed all the time, it would have an effect on her, and they just couldn't do that to their baby sister.

He never wrote it down when he was planning "operation farewell" but he knew that this moment would come, and had a plan in mind that needed to be executed. It was something that was so small, so inconsequential, something that he could have easily not said, but it was something that he didn't say often enough. It was something that he needed to tell all of his sisters before time ran out. Nothing would change his mind now.

He looked over to his oldest sister, the one who had been there for him his whole life. Despite her many personality flaws, how angry she got, how emotional she was, she had always been there for not just Lincoln, but for all of them. It was amazing how she could be so strict, yet at the same time, so loving for her siblings.

"Lori?"

"Yes Lincoln?"

Waiting for a second, he took a deep breath, then said, almost breaking down into tears, "I love you Lori."

Her mostly solid composure fell apart in an instant and tears started rolling down her face. If it weren't for Lana, Lola, and Lily, she probably would have collapsed on top of him, but she controlled herself, and knelt beside the bed. She took her face in his hand and and slowly moved it down to his chin. She repeated this motion a few times, looking at all of his specific features. His white hair, the freckles he had, his chipped buck teeth. She was never going to see any of it again, except in pictures. She barely squeaked out the words whilst still crying, "I love you too Linc."

Lincoln opened her arms to embrace her big sister in a hug to which she fell into. Lori had always been the one to comfort her other siblings when they needed it, it had never been the other way around. Now that it was, for the first time, she understood why they all needed her as much as they did. It was so comforting to have someone to completely break down on. She had most always been the one that her immediate younger sisters and brother came to when they needed someone to cry on, now it was her turn to cry on someone. She needed to know what it felt like, so that she could know the comfort that was felt when she would eventually do the same again.

Finally, she broke off of Lincoln after calming down a bit and took Lily to her crib where she peacefully slept. Lana and Lola had mostly calmed down by now and were now both sitting on their respective edges of the bed. Lori figured that there would be more to come and asked them both to hop off of the bed, to which they responded in a way that was quite unenthusiastic.

"Leni?"

"Yeah Linky?"

There was less hesitation this time, but it was still genuine. "I love you Leni."

As if Leni finally understood what was going on, she dropped to her knees, suddenly pale faced. Everyone thought that she was going to faint, but instead, she ran over to the side of Lincoln's bed. She wrapped him up in her arms, and laying her head on his chest, she cried. She cried, and cried, and cried until Lincoln's shirt was just about soaked. Finally, she looked him in his eyes, admiring them for just a moment before speaking. "I love you too Linky. I always will." She put her head back down and cried for a few more seconds. Lincoln wrapped his arms around her and she reciprocated the motion. Finally, Leni, with a quivering lip, looked at Lincoln with a small smile and hugged him around the neck one last time before getting up and proceeding to move out of the way of Luna, who was already making her way down. She had rightfully guessed that she was next, based on the order that Lincoln had called them so far, however she decided not to get up close to him until he called her name. Lisa recognized the order in which he was going, and was slightly upset that she would be last, but still, it did make sense.

"Luna?"

"sup bro?" She knelt down next to his bed and took his hand in hers.

"I love you Luna."

Luna looked down for a moment as if to compose herself. It wasn't easy to hear this from her dying brother, yet for some reason, it was the only thing she wanted to hear. She whimpered a little bit, then looked back up at him with tears in her eyes, "I love you too lil' bro."

They hugged each other more tightly than either of them had done before, but it didn't hurt. It was warm, and comforting, and everything a hug should be. It could have lasted for ages, however, they both knew that Lincoln didn't have a lot of time left so, reluctantly, they let each other go. Luna, for some reason, was the only one who didn't completely break down at the sound of her little brother's heartfelt words. She was crying just like the others, the sight of her little brother dying was too much even for her, but she was able to control herself. Luna finally stepped back and let Luan take her place.

"Luan?"

She walked up and sat on the side of the bed, looking at him, with tears already in her eyes. After some consideration, she asked him a rhetorical question. "What is it Linc?"

"I love you Luan."

Apparently, there was something about him saying that to each one of their siblings that broke their hearts. Luan was no exception, because she threw her arms around him and started crying. "I... I love you too Linc..." She held onto him, almost as if to not lose him. He returned the hug and she started sobbing even more. Lincoln rarely saw the comedian cry. Seeing her or any of her other siblings like this, nearly made him break down every time. He hated it so much, but there was nothing he could do to avoid the pain. Luan held on for a few seconds more before letting go and backing away.

Lynn hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on. She was busy thinking about how she would be able to go on without Lincoln. So when he called her name, she was a bit shocked.

"Lynn?"

"I didn't do it!"

"Lynn?" Lincoln chuckled. She suddenly realized what was going on and ran over to the side of the bed. She sat on it and leaned in closer to him.

"What is it Lincoln?"

Putting his hand on her shoulder, he gently told her the same thing that he told the rest of his sisters, "I love you Lynn."

She reached up and grabbed the hand that was on her shoulder and held it tight, her bottom lip quivering a little bit. Then, falling on him, she broke down, just like her other sisters did. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto him with her head laying across his chest. Lincoln hugged her back and stroked her hair as she continued sobbing on his shirt, now drenched from his other sisters as well.

"I love you too... and I... I don't want you to go..." she cried silently. Even though she knew what had really happened that day, she couldn't help but feel a slight pang of guilt for what happened.

"Please... don't leave us..."

She would have kept crying on top of him till he passed. She didn't care. No one else could feel what she was feeling right then. Not even her own sisters could feel the same thing despite the fact that he was the only brother to all of them. The guilt, the pain, the sorrow was more than she could handle. It was worse than what the rest of them felt, because she was the one who felt closest to their brother. She was the one who protected him the most. She was the one who needed him the most, and she couldn't stand the thought of losing him. If Lori had never pulled her off, she would have stayed attatched to Lincoln to the end of time. She was losing, not just her only brother, but her favorite sibling.

"NO!" she tried holding onto him, like a little kid not wanting to leave the house. Tears kept streaming from her eyes. It was pure torture.

"You have to let go Lynn. He still has things he needs to say!"

"I don't want to..."

"Ouch!"

Instantly, everyone gasped and Lynn released her grip on Lincoln. "I'MSORRYI'MSORRYI'M SORRYI'MSORRY!"

"It's okay Lynn, it wasn't you..." Lincoln lied. This didn't calm anyone down, if anything, it made them realize how short their time was with him, however it worked in calming Lynn from her hysteria. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if the last thing she did to her brother was hurt him. Lynn stood up leaning her head onto Lori's side and kept crying. Normally, Lori would have made her get off, but considering the circumstances, she let it slide this time. Lucy was next.

"Lucy?"

Instead of scaring him by suddenly appearing like she normally would, she made her presence known to the group before going up to him and sitting down on the bed cross-legged next to him. Although he couldn't see her eyes, her gaze was piercing. It made him remember that he lied to her. He told her that he was okay when that could not have been further from the truth. She later discovered on her own that this was happening and was forced to confront her about it. They made up in the junkyard where Lucy revealed that she wasn't sad about him lying to her, but rather about his imminent demise. Despite that, he still wasn't sure if she she actually forgave him for Lying. She never said that she did and it bothered him to some extent. He said sorry so many times, yet never heard her express her forgiveness. But, if she didn't forgive him, it wasn't his problem. He said sorry and that was all he could do.

Lincoln, obviously feeling guilty for what he did, didn't give Lucy a chance to speak. "I love you Lucy."

Lucy started breaking up, "Under normal circumstances my dark lords would never allow me say such a thing, but these aren't exactly normal circumstances. I... I love you too Lincoln."

They hugged each other for a brief moment. Underneath the black hair covering her eyes, Lincoln could see tears falling down Lucy's face. This was something that never happened; a rare event in the Loud house. He himself had only ever seen it once, nevertheless, no one was surprised by it. Lincoln wiped the tears from her brooding face and they hugged one more time. "By the way, I forgive you Lincoln."

Lincoln's face became noticeably more relaxed. She knew it would make everyone else mad by saying it, but she could see the look in his eyes. She had seen it so many times before. This was his way of practically begging for forgiveness. She knew what it was for too. She had already forgiven him for it, but hearing it, to him, meant that much more.

Almost as soon as she got off, the twins jumped on him and hugged him, clinging to him desperately. "We love you Lincoln!" they said in unison, breaking out into tears.

"Please stay..." Lana told him. "We can't live without you..."

"You can't leave us..." Lola said.

"I love you guys too..." Lincoln started. His words only made them sob more violently. "But there's nothing I can do." At this point they were both completely distraught with seemingly no way to snap them out of it. Their hysterical crying nearly brought Lincoln himself to tears, he couldn't stand seeing them this sad. He pulled himself together though and, carefully thinking it through, started speaking to them. He pulled them closer in. Hearing their brother's voice calmed them down enough to listen.

"I have a special request for you guys..."

"What is it?

"Anything!"

Sighing, he looked over at Lily. He needed someone to tell Lily about him. Otherwise, she would just grow up, never knowing that she had an older brother. She would see the pictures obviously, but she would have so many sisters, she wouldn't know who to ask about him. It was easier to assign this task. Lincoln started explaining, "I'm leaving you two in charge of making sure that Lily knows about me when she's old enough. I want you to teach her everything about me, tell her anything you want, tell her everything, all of our memories together, all the good times we had and the bad ones if you really want to. I'm leaving you guys in charge of letting her know all that, because for one, Lisa's always busy with something."

"Normally, I would be quite disturbed by this, but it is the truth."

"And two... she's not gonna remember me. She's too young." Even though it had only been a few minutes, Lily woke up again upon hearing her name. She babbled on until she caught the attention of Luna, who picked her up and brought her over to the crowd. "So I'm leaving it to you two. Can you promise me you'll tell her stories about me?"

"I promise Linc."

"I promise too," they both stood up on the bed and made a military salute on their foreheads. Their own clothes were now moist with tears as well with a few stray droplets still falling from their eyes.

"I love you guys," they knelt down and he pulled them in for a hug one more time before letting them go. When he did they reluctantly got off of the bed, trying to stay as close to him as possible. Finally, it was Lisa's turn. She walked up to the edge of the bed and successfully pulled herself on top of it, finally ending up standing on the mattress next to Lincoln.

"I apologize that I was not able to conceive an antidote for your medical situation," Lisa started, but then her demeanor changed drastically and her voice changed from a monotonous one to a disappointing one. "I was so close too..."

"It's okay Lisa."

"No it's not. I was responsible for saving your life and I failed!" she yelled, falling on her knees.

"Lisa, stop it!" It was torture hearing her release her anger at the fact that she thought she was responsible for saving him. He had to say something. "Don't you remember what I told you when I first got home?"

"I don't seem to recall, but what's the point?"

"I told you that you shouldn't need to feel responsible for my death and that if you weren't able to save me, that you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. It's not your fault!"

"But I didn't..."

"None of that matters now. You will always be my sister no matter what happens!"

"But..."

"Lisa, it's okay. I still love you anyway."

Lisa, who was normally the most stoic of the Loud kids, burst into tears as she fell on top of her older brother. She wrapped her arms around him as far as she possibly could and he did the same. The two of them embraced each other in a warm, comforting hug. Lisa had never hugged nor been hugged like this. It was a new feeling, a good feeling, one that she wanted to enjoy again. As she held him a couple of words escaped her mouth. "I love you too Lincoln."

Lisa hopped down and joined the rest of her sisters. Lincoln saw Lily in Luna's arms and immediately he made eye contact with his baby sister. Luna placed her down on the foot of the bed and she crawled up the middle of Lincoln's legs toward him. He managed to sit up a little bit before grabbing her and letting her sit on his lower chest. She giggled, reaching for his nose.

"Lily?" she looked up at him. "I know you're not gonna remember this, but I want you to know, that I love you, so much. After I'm gone, Lola and Lana will tell you everything about me. They won't ever let you forget that you have a big brother who loves you... so... so much..." Lincoln started tearing up himself. The thought that he would never be able to see his baby sister grow up was devastating. What kind of things would she like? What will she look like when she's older? How is she going to find out about him? None of these questions would be answered before he leaves. It upset him, but Lily, seeing her brother's distress, crawled up his shirt and put her hands on his eyes, trying to wipe her big brother's tears. Lincoln chuckled a little noticing this, and calmed himself down for her sake. She cooed softly and laid her head down to rest on his chest, his heartbeat gently lulling her to sleep.

Lola and Lana sprung on the bed once again and cuddled up on either side of him. The rest of his sisters gathered around the bed. None of them had realized that Lisa's time estimate had been past due by about fifteen minutes. He was supposed to die before he finished, yet for some reason, he was allowed to be able to say his final words to all of his sisters. Even now, he still had a little bit of time. All he wanted in his final moments, was his family.

As he felt his final moments approaching, he grabbed the nearest hand that was on each side of him. On his left, it was Lynn, on his right, it was Luna. The rest of his sisters, with the exception of the twins and Lily, grabbed onto either one of Lincoln's hands, three in one hand, three in the other. He noticed that one hand was missing, the hand of his oldest sister. At first, Lincoln was a bit distraught. Didn't his oldest sister want to be with her brother in his last moments? His thoughts quickly subsided as he found the missing hand. Instead of holding one of his hands, Lori, from behind the couch, decided to stroke his hair to try to calm his and her own nerves. Lincoln enjoyed it.

He felt no pain; no struggle. It was all washed away by his sisters' love and it was the only thing he could have asked for. His last breaths weren't labored or hurtful, they felt natural and normal. He could have died right then, and wouldn't have even known. He looked at each and every one of his sisters, noticing every little thing about them. The shape of their faces, their eye colors, their hair colors, which ones had freckles. He noticed every little imperfection in the skin on their face. As far as he was concerned, they were perfect. He wanted a good look at them one last time before he left. Finally scanning over all of them, he closed his eyes. This was going to be their last memory with him and he wanted them to savor the moment. It was the perfect picture. Lily was quietly snoring on top of his chest, Lana and Lola were clutching his side, whimpering just a bit, Lori was still stroking his hair, and his other siblings were holding onto their only brother. If someone were to take a picture of this moment, it would perfectly capture the atmosphere in the room.

The Louds didn't really have any specific religion. They didn't really even consider themselves religious folks. Yet for some reason, Lincoln felt the need to say a silent prayer to himself. A prayer, not for his sake, but for his sisters. He was going to die, there was nothing he could do to change that, but they would have to move on without him, without their only brother.

"Please keep my sisters safe, and don't ever let them forget who they are."

And with that, the Loud boy breathed in for the last time. His body went limp, letting all of the air out of his chest. Lincoln's heartbeat and breathing had been keeping Lily asleep, so when all that stopped, she woke up rather disturbed.

"Buh-buh?" she cooed as she smacked his lifeless face. Lily, by doing this, was the one who let the rest of the girls know what had happened. Lola and Lana hugged their brother's body tighter than before and started bawling. Lori, with tears beginning to stream from her face, picked Lily up off of the bed who had just started to cry herself. Almost immediately, Lynn jumped on top of her brother and started crying her eyes out like she had just lost her chance to play in the big game. The other sisters collapsed on the bed, now showing off their waterworks. Watching their brother die right there in front of them had a bigger impact on them than they thought. It was painful. Too painful. They didn't want to move on without their brother. They didn't want to live without him, and now that he was gone, they realized that their lives wouldn't be the same without him. Moving on didn't seem like an option, but they had to. They had to do it for Lincoln. They had to do it for all of them.

Yes there will be a second part to it. I know this seems like the end of it, but it's not. Trust me! And I can guarantee the next chapter won't go the way you think it will. I honestly don't know how people will react to the next chapter, but I will spend a lot of time on it to make sure I've got it just the way I want it. Thanks again for reading!


	2. Part two - Gain

**Well Holy Crap! Thanks to everyone who has supported this story so far, including UnderratedHero himself who has indirectly given me permission to continue this story, despite the fact that he would have preferred people to wait until Requiem was finished. Sorry that it took so long for this part to be finished, but I really wanted to make sure that it was as good as I could make it before putting it up there. Anyway, enjoy part two!**

Part 2 - Gain

The Loud house would never be the same. Everything from this point forward had changed. Even if Lincoln did survive, everything would still be different. It wouldn't be a bad kind of different. Not the kind of different that would make them change for the worse, but different nonetheless. A good kind of different. They would all love each other. Not like the world thinks siblings should; fighting all the time, arguing over where to go and what to do. But they would love each other they way siblings truly should. They would start getting along with each other and would actively make attempts to enjoy each other, no matter how annoying or distracting they might be to each other. Even Lori would repeal the ban from her room, just to prove that things really had changed. Of course, the other sisters would still respect the privacy of their oldest, but wouldn't have to worry any longer about whether or not it was worth it to barge in there without asking. She would be there for them, just like Lincoln was there for all of them and had always been there for them until now.

Lincoln. There was something strange about this whole situation. No one could put their finger on it, but for some reason, they didn't believe he was really dead. It was the strangest feeling in the world. They wanted to be upset that their brother had just died, but for some reason, they couldn't. None of them could. There was something going on that none of them realized. Something about their brother. Lincoln was still there. Well obviously his body was still there, they could see it. But they never thought that he was actually gone. No one knew or realized it at first, but Lincoln really was still alive. Not in the spiritual sense, but in the physical. He was still breathing, and his heart was still beating. Subconsciously, they all knew this; they all knew that he was alive. But it couldn't have been possible, they just saw him die right before their very eyes. Unless their own eyes were deceiving them, there was no way. It was impossible. None of them even thought about the fact that it could have been a dream. None of them dared to consider that they were all laying in bed with their eyes closed, dreaming the worst nightmare they ever had. They all just assumed that what was happening to them was real life. It was too much to handle, too real, and much too painful for it to just be a dream.

But it was.

Lincoln woke up in what felt like a bed. He couldn't see anything as his eyes were still adjusting to the light. "Am I... dead?"

As his vision slowly returned, he glanced over the ceiling of the room he was in and found several light bulbs hanging from it, all of which were successfully lighting the rather large room. With the exception of thinking he was dead, his first thought was that he was in the hospital. Why did they bring him there? He told them he didn't want this. He didn't want any of this. He clenched his fists, a little angry at the thought. But his eyes suddenly widened as he realized that he was still alive. How was it possible? Did Lisa find a cure at the last second? What was going on? He stopped breathing and his heart stopped beating, he felt it. Something was going on that Lincoln couldn't wrap his mind around just yet. Something very strange was happening.

In the corner of the room, there was a large metal furnace. At the top of the nearest wall, there was a small rectangular window that led outside. The late morning sun was bursting through it and was reflecting off of the furnace, lighting up the room more than it already was. There was a washer and dryer in the corner and there were some beat up, wooden stairs a few feet away leading up to a slightly opened door. The place looked an awful lot like their basement. As a matter of fact, it was their basement. Lincoln sat up, dazed and confused. He looked around the room for a moment, and saw nine other people all sleeping in beds that had been set up in a tight circle with the foot of each bed facing the inside of it. The inner part of the circle had a diameter of roughly seven feet and on the ground in the middle of it, was a small machine that looked similar to a computer tower. There were eleven sets of wires coming out of the back of it, ten of which were going to all of the different beds and the last one was connected to what looked like a remote control, but Lincoln couldn't tell. His vision was still too blurry. What he could finally make out though, were the people sleeping in the beds. They were his sisters.

There were ten beds altogether which were occupied by all of the Loud siblings, with the exception, of course, being Lily, who was still peacefully sleeping in her crib upstairs. Lincoln was the only one of them who was awake at this point, despite it being close to eleven in the morning. When he rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his vision, he felt something attached to the side of his head. He discovered that there were suction cups attached to his head with wires coming out of the side of them. He followed the wires along the side of his bed and down to the ground and was vaguely able to trace where they were connected to the device he previously saw. By this point, he could see well enough to notice that there was a word written on the side of the device in big red letters. He squinted trying to read it.

"Dream-Caster"

His eyes widened when he realized what was printed. He suddenly remembered everything that had happened the previous evening. Lisa's dream experiment. Ever since she saw the movie "deception" a few months ago, she had taken a great interest in how the human brain works when people are sleeping. She read dozens of books on different dream theories and wanted to come up with a way to connect people using dreams, just like in the movie. After months of planning and preparation, she finally invented the Dream-Caster. It could connect people to each other in their dreams, but would not reveal what the dream was going to be about or how long the dream would be. Lincoln, at first, was expecting a dream that lasted two days, maybe three at most, but definitely not three weeks. It felt too real. It didn't skip around like a normal dream did. Every detail was there. Every second of every minute of every day passed by just like an average day would. He obviously didn't remember every little thing that happened, but he remembered having to endure every single minute that he was awake. It was painful to have to go through that. He slumped over as a blank expression overtook his face. He couldn't believe that none of it was real. Everything that happened was fake; false; an illusion. How would his sisters react when they woke up?

"Gosh..." he said silently, laying back onto the bed. How _would_ they react? Would they be sad? Happy? Angry? What would they do? When they realized what was going on, would they just stay there on their beds as if they really were waking up from a dream? Or would they run to him, ignoring the possible consequences of what could happen if they just ripped the wires off, not following the right procedure? Nine of his sisters were experiencing, nay, they were living what was possibly, the worst nightmare of their lives. They had just watched their only brother die right in front of them. To them, what could possibly be worse than that?

Lincoln was startled as he heard a groan come from across the room. He sat up a little and carefully looked in the general direction that it came from, only to be disappointed as he did not find any signs of movement. Not even rustling sheets. Still though, he kept watching. If anyone was awake now, they weren't showing it. It was almost as if they didn't want anyone to know they were awake, despite not knowing if anyone was even up yet. Lincoln sat forward in his bed and rested his chin in his hands, looking more annoyed than anything now. Why wasn't anyone moving? He knew he heard someone. Maybe it was just the pipes settling. He had made that mistake at least once before.

"Ugh..."

That was definitely someone. Lincoln's head snapped back to the direction he was previously looking to find that someone was indeed awake, rubbing their eyes. He couldn't tell who it was yet; the person was on the other side of the room and Lincoln's sight was still a little fuzzy. He could see which sisters were in the beds directly next to his and one more beyond those, but after that, he had no idea which girls were in which beds. If they would sit up it would be easy to tell, but so far, none of them did. It also didn't help his case that the glare from the sun reflecting off of the furnace was shining right in his eyes. It wasn't that bright, but it was just bright enough to be a minor annoyance.

"Oh... What the heck just happened?"

Lincoln could finally tell who it was. If her voice wasn't enough to clarify, the girl sat up in her bed. Despite the glare from the furnace he could make out enough of her features. The messy auburn hair, freckles, and dark brown eyes made it obvious who it was. But even if that wasn't enough, her signature red and white T-shirt with the number one on it made everything completely clear. Lincoln watched as his older sister lazily looked around the room, trying to figure out where she was. So far, she hadn't noticed him. Lincoln was waiting anxiously for his sister to figure out that it was just a dream. that everything she experienced, all the pain and anguish she felt for losing her brother, was nothing more than an illusion, a nasty trick that her mind played on her.

Lynn looked in Lincoln's direction and squinted her eyes. The white hair and orange shirt could have fooled her if she didn't take a second look. Was that really him? It couldn't have been; there was no way that he was still alive. She rubbed her eyes again, thinking that it was just a hallucination, but then opened them back up to not only be able to clearly see the color of his hair and shirt, but the classic smile on his face too. She remembered it all too well. Her eyes widened, her heart-rate spiked, and she gasped as she raised her hands to her face. She tried to find something that would indicate that he wasn't really there or that it wasn't really him, but found nothing. There wasn't a single flaw that she could find to even make her doubt it in the slightest. She finally lost control of her emotions and it was like a dam broke in her eyes. There was nothing in the world that was going to stop her now. Tears started flowing down her slightly tanned face as she smiled a little bit. It really was him. It really was her only brother. It was Lincoln.

"Lincoln!"

Not caring about the consequences of what would happen, she ripped all of the wires off of her head and jumped out of the bed, running around the circle until finally reaching him. When she did, she stopped in her tracks right at the edge of the bed. Lincoln looked at her with a slightly confused look on his face. He didn't know it, but she was still having a hard time believing he was really there, despite having confirmed it to herself over and over again.

"Is it... Is it really you?"

Her hands were shaking in front of her chest. She had to reach out and find out if it really was him, but at the same time, didn't want to be disappointed if he wasn't really there. She didn't know what to do. There was a battle going on in her mind. The pain from losing him was still fresh in her mind, and now, seeing him right there in front of her was too much to handle. Was he really there? She looked down at her violently shaking hands, then even further to the floor. What was going on? She had just seen him die before her very eyes. It was so confusing. She wanted to believe he was really alive, but for some reason, she couldn't.

Lynn put her hands to her face and started crying again. More than anything else, she wanted to believe her brother was alive. But the dream she and her other siblings had was so real. The pain she felt was nothing short of what real life would have been. There were so many questions that needed to be answered. Was it really just a dream? Why did she wake up when she did? Why did it end the way it did? Was her brother really alive?

Lynn was startled and stopped crying as she felt a hand touch her arm, pulling it away from her face. It slid down her arm and grasped her hand. That warm touch couldn't have been anyone else. She looked up to find Lincoln looking straight in her eyes with a comforting smile on his face, holding her hand with both of his tightly. Lynn stared at him for a moment before he said something. Hearing his soft, sultry voice speaking to her was all she needed to erase any doubts in her mind.

"I'm here Lynn. It really is me."

"Lincoln..."

She broke down once again and jumped on her little brother, knocking him backwards and making him fall onto the bed. There was no doubt in her mind any longer. He was right there, embracing her as she wept. Nothing made her happier at the moment than feeling her brother's arms wrapping her tightly. It was so warm, so comforting, so relieving to find that he was still right there with her and wasn't leaving anytime soon. She held him tighter as tears kept falling from her eyes onto his already slightly moist shirt. There was nothing in the world that could make her feel more joy; not playing any sports, not winning any games, not even winning the world series would make her feel more amazing than she did now. It was the best feeling she had ever had even though she couldn't stop crying.

Lincoln moved himself backwards a little and sat up further, letting Lynn cry on his shirt. He would let her do that to the end of time if she wanted to. His sisters, right now, were the only things that mattered to him and there wasn't anything that was going to change that. Not now, not ever. He would follow them to the end of the world at this point. He was so ecstatic to know that he was alive. Not for his sake though. But rather, for his sisters' sake. They would all rush to him upon waking up if they even felt similar to the way Lynn did.

"I love you Lincoln," she told him with her eyes still red and moist. "Don't ever leave me again."

Lincoln's heart jumped when he heard this. He almost felt like crying himself, knowing that his sisters loved him this much. If the circumstances were any different, he would have thought that something really weird was going on, but he knew what had just happened and was more than willing to bear the heavy load of all of his sisters' breaking down when once they saw him. It was all he wanted to do. Comforting his sisters was all that he ever wanted to do despite how badly he may have treated them sometimes. Even despite the many times that they treat him badly, all he wants is for them to be happy. If they were happy, then the vast majority of the time, he was happy.

"I love you too Lynn."

He returned her hug and they laid in the bed, enjoying each others' company and warmth. It didn't need to be said. They both knew the obvious. But Lincoln felt the need to say it, and Lynn wouldn't have had it any other way.

Lola and Lana both sat up in their beds which happened to be placed right next to each other. Being only six years old, they didn't need to take too long to wake up and realize that everything that happened was just a dream. They briefly exchanged glances before looking towards their big brother. Seeing him alive made them forget everything that was going on and they ran over to him, jumping on his bed, crying on his shirt and hugging him with every bit of strength they had.

"I can't believe it's really you!" Lana wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face up to his.

"Don't ever let it happen again!" Lola did the same thing on the other side of the bed. Lincoln took each of his arms and wrapped them around his little sisters, embracing them as they cried on his cheeks. Lynn had backed off once Lola and Lana jumped on the bed to give them room to hug their brother. They were just as glad to see him as she was and she knew it, so she moved out of their way. She stayed on the bed though, sitting on the edge of it, admiring how loving and tender her little brother was with her two younger sisters. It was so heartwarming to see them together like that. She almost couldn't help but start crying again. All he cared about was making them happy. Thinking about this, a single tear was shed from Lynn's eye. She wiped it away and smiled as she watched her brother comfort her other siblings.

Leni was the next to wake up, followed by Lisa, Lucy, Luna, and Luan respectively. As was expected, they all woke up, confused at first, but upon seeing their brother alive, rushed to him. Just like all of the others, they were so happy to see their brother alive. Even Lisa, when she woke up and remembered what was going on, completely disregarded the fact that this was supposed to be an experiment and ran to Lincoln's side. All she cared about was that her brother was living and breathing right there with them. She didn't care about anything else, and neither did the others. They all stayed close to their brother as they rejoiced and cried with each other. This couldn't be a happier or more life changing moment for them.

It was great and all that Lincoln was alive and they were all happy, but they were so caught up in their celebration and merriment that none of them even noticed that Lori was still asleep. She was still living a nightmare where her brother was dead, and it was torture. She didn't yet know that Lincoln was alive and well. It would have been okay if she woke up just after everyone else did, but she stayed asleep well after the rest of them awoke, and it caused her turmoil. She was asleep for so long, that in the dream, she had come to terms with Lincoln's death and convinced herself that he wasn't coming back. She would wake up having moved on with her life, having accepted a false reality. She didn't do it for herself though. She did it to set an example for their sisters, to show that it was possible to move on from something like this. But she didn't have to, because her brother was still alive.

Everyone else woke up slowly and peacefully. No one was startled or scared when they came back to reality. They woke up, remembered what was going on, and ran to Lincoln's side, embracing their little brother. Lori was different however. She was the only one who jumped awake, breathing heavily and ripping the wires off of her head in the process. She felt so strange. She knew she had woken up from a dream, but there was something different about this. Something weird was going on and she was determined to find out what it was.

The first thing she noticed was that she was in the basement of her house, surrounded by ten beds. The second thing she noticed was the machine in the middle of the floor and the wires that were now sprawled out all over the ground, some of them even coming up to her own bed. Confused, she looked around some more and saw a group of people crowding around one of the beds. She rubbed her eyes and looked closer. They were her younger sisters and for some reason, they all looked happier than they had ever been in their lives. She squinted and as she did, Luna moved to the side a little to reveal an eleven year old boy with freckles and pure white hair, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Lori's eyes went wide upon seeing this. She wiped some more sleep out of her eyes and looked more closely. Sure enough, there was a boy in the middle of the group that just happened to look like her only little brother. She wasn't hallucinating, he really was there, or rather, someone that looked like him was anyway. She didn't believe what she was seeing. It couldn't have been him, he died and she saw it. All of them saw it, yet, they were all acting like he was right there with them. Was he?

Lori slowly got out of bed and started walking towards the group, her heart racing with every step she took. What was going on? Was she going crazy or was it really true? Could her baby brother really be alive? If he was, how? And why? He died right in front of her, there was no mistaking it.

She stumbled a little bit. Looking down, she saw a thick power cord that was connected to the same device she saw earlier. Now that she was closer, she could see what was written on the side of it. What was a dream-caster? Was it one of Lisa's inventions? The machine piqued her interest and she stopped, taking a moment to look at it for a while. Now that her vision was more cleared up, she could see that at the end of each of the wires were suction cups, resting on the floor. She looked back at her own bed and saw the same thing resting on the floor. She looked back at the machine and pondered for a moment what was going on. Then it hit her.

It was all a dream. A terrible, horrible nightmare. Lori turned and stared at her sisters and brother in shock. Her heart-rate skyrocketed again and she started shaking. She had totally convinced herself that her brother was dead and that she needed to move on. Of course she was happy to see him, but seeing him, the real him, made her quiver with fear. She looked like she saw a ghost, and to some extent, she did.

Slowly, she started walking towards him, every step making her heart-rate faster and making her shake more violently. Upon reaching the group, she tapped the person that was nearest to her. Luan, with tears in her eyes, turned around and saw her older sister, except she wasn't completely there. Luan stepped back in shock. Seeing Lori so pale and shaky scared her. The others noticed what was going on and they all looked at their eldest sister. It scared all of them.

Without saying a word, Lori moved to the center of the group where Lincoln was. He looked her straight in the eyes and her into his. She slowly reached out with her trembling hands and grabbed her brother's shoulder. Lincoln grabbed her hand and lifted it up off of his shoulder, standing up at the same time he did this. He then reached around and hugged his sister, trying to calm her down. Immediately, she stopped shaking, her face went more pale than it was before, and she collapsed, being caught by Lincoln and a few others so that she wouldn't hurt herself. They laid her on the nearest bed and crowded around it, waiting for her to wake up. Watching their only brother die had an effect on all of them. They all doubted to some extent whether or not he was really alive, but none of them even came close to dropping on the ground unconscious. Yet at the same time, none of them had yet accepted the fact that their brother was dead either. Only Lori forced herself to move on; prepared to live out the rest of her life without her only brother.

The oldest loud sibling woke up just a few moments later, "Lori are you okay?"

"I think so. What ha..." She stopped speaking when she realized who asked the question. She starting shaking again, looking down at the covers on the bed. With her heart pounding once again, her head turned in Lincoln's direction and met his eyes. He looked at her quizzically for a while, trying to understand what was going on. He understood that she had just seen him die, but a reaction like this seemed completely unnecessary, especially after she had already fainted once.

"Lori? Are you okay?"

She didn't say anything and reached out towards Lincoln, finally resting her hand on his cheek. He sighed out of slight frustration, but then smiled a little bit. Her hand was making it's way down his face, examining the features on it, making sure that she wasn't just going crazy, making sure that he really was there. It didn't seem like it was hard to tell, but she was acting like it was the most difficult thing in the world.

Her hand fell off of Lincoln's face and she just looked him in his eyes. He just looked right back and grabbed her hands again, pulling her into a standing position. No one said anything. There was just complete silence for a minute or two while Lori and Lincoln stared each other down. Finally, breaking the silence, Lincoln said, "It's me Lori. I... I'm really here."

The look of shock that had been stuck on her face since she woke up, turned to one of sorrow. Tears started welling up in her eyes and she slowly tightened her grip on Lincoln's hands. It wasn't so tight that it was cutting off the circulation in his hands, but it wasn't exactly comfortable either. However, it didn't last for very long. After what seemed like forever, she let go of his hands, covering her face with her own, and fell to her knees, crying.

Lincoln looked at her for a moment, his own expression changing to a more sorrowful one. He hated seeing any of his sisters like this, but when Lori reacts like this, being the oldest, affects everyone in a different way. Lincoln could see the look in his other sisters' faces. They were just as scared as he was. He had to let her know that he was there for her though, that despite what she went through, he really was right there with them. So, mustering up some courage, he knelt down to where he could see Lori's face. He was about to say something to her, but when he saw her arms reach towards him, he flinched instinctively and put his hands up. But to his surprise, she reached around him and held on tight, still sobbing while dropping her head onto his shoulder.

Lincoln's eyes went wide and he slowly lowered his hands and put them around his sister. The two of them stayed there, just like that for several minutes without saying anything. She needed someone to hold onto right now, despite the fact that she was the older one and that she was usually the one doing the comforting. Lincoln didn't really care all that much though. All he wanted to do was try to comfort his no longer mourning sisters as best as he could. After what happened, it really was all he felt like he could do.

Lori finally stopped crying and looked up at her little brother's face, smiling a little bit while holding onto his shoulders. Her eyes were still red but she was more in control of herself now. Lincoln smiled back at her and she pulled him in one more time for a hug, a real one. Not one that the other was forced into, neither was it one where they forced each other to do it, but one that both of them wanted and needed.

"You're not leaving anytime soon Lincoln," she said with her arms still wrapped around him. The rest of the siblings that were there, joined in with the two of them in a big group hug. Lincoln, being at the center of it, felt his sisters' warmth surrounding him. It wasn't every day that something like this happened, whether in the Loud family or in the rest of the world. Sure, people died every day and someone would have to move on from their loved one's passing. But when someone is found alive that was thought to be dead, there is always rejoicing. Sometimes there's even change.

This kind of change for the Loud house will be good. Maybe it was necessary, maybe it wasn't. Sure it will still be loud, sure they'll still get angry at each other, sure they'll probably even fight over stupid things, but when it comes down to the time when they really need each other, none of them will hesitate to ask the others for help for fear of being judged. All of them will always want to try to sympathize with each other and help each other out, no matter what it was. If it's something as small as an argument over who gets the last slice of pizza, or if something happened that could threaten to tear their bond apart, they would always try to deal with the problem, and if necessary, do whatever it takes to solve said problem.

Lincoln stayed at the center of the group. Knowing his sisters loved him this much made him start crying, and when they noticed it, they just hugged him tighter. He couldn't help himself. After seeing them so happy from seeing him alive and then feeling them all around him, enveloping him, embracing him, there wasn't anything else he could do. Tears ran down his cheeks. He didn't make any noise. He wasn't even sniffling or short of breath. It was moments like these that he loved, that he lived for.

"I love you guys," he said in a soft yet carrying voice. They all heard his voice and once again, their own tears broke free from their eyes. None of them felt anything else. They were all happy. None of them could have wanted anything different than what they had right now. They often asked themselves how much they really wanted it. They always got onto each others' nerves and regularly fought with each other. But in the end, they wouldn't want it any other way. The way it was, the way it is, and the way that it always will be, is the only way they wanted it. Despite being in a family of only one boy and ten girls, the answer was always the same.

 _Wouldn't trade it for the world._

 **This is the end of my Fan-made ending of _Requiem for a Loud._ However I will be continuing to add epilogue chapters, explaining a few things that may not have made much sense and also revealing how everyone acts differently afterwards. Anyways, thanks for reading and stay posted for future chapters!**


	3. Post Awakening - Chapter One

**Okay, after starting two other stories, I've finally decided to begin working on the epilogue chapters for my fan-made ending to Requiem. This chapter is going to be mostly what happens immediately after waking up and then there will be a little bit of explanation as well. I've got a plan to have a chapter for the way each of the girls treat each other differently. Then at the very end, I'll have Lincoln's chapter and what he thinks of the whole situation. Also, It just hit me that this series of chapters will actually end up being longer than the original story itself.**

* * *

 **Post Awakening**

 **Chapter one - Back Into Rhythm (pt 1)**

"I imagine they're probably all up and at-em by now."

Lynn Sr plopped himself down on a chair in the dining room, admiring his handiwork. The intoxicating aroma of freshly cooked buttermilk pancakes filled the air and flowed throughout the house. The stack of more than thirty towered above the table, leaning to the side just slightly. Lynn Sr knew that his Saturday morning breakfast was a fan-favorite and was expecting the rumbling to start any minute now.

A minute passed. "That's okay, the pancakes are still hot."

Five minutes passed. Still no rumbling, not even a creak. He was starting to get anxious.

Ten minutes passed. Still nothing. He decided to grab some pancakes for himself while they were still kind of warm.

Fifteen minutes passed. Not only were the pancakes cold now, but the smell was gone too. "Well, it's their fault for not getting up sooner," he said as he munched on his own serving.

After thirty minutes, he stood up and scratched his head. "Where is everyone?"

He walked upstairs and searched each one of their rooms. He looked and looked, only getting further confused as to why none of them were there. Even Lincoln wasn't in his own room. The last room he checked was Lisa and Lily's room. Lily was standing up in her crib with her hands on the edge of it, bouncing up and down while reaching for her dad.

"At least Lily's here, but where are the rest of them?" He glanced around the room and noticed a sheet of paper resting on Lisa's desk. Curious, he paced over to it and picked up the note.

 _Dear Male Parental figure,_

 _I made sure to author this document to you with the assumption that you forgot about the dream experiment that all of my siblings and I have agreed to participate in, with the exception of Lily of course. If you are reading this after ten thirty in the morning on Saturday, May 20th, it is most likely that all of us have woken up from our slumber by now. We are in the basement if you feel the desire to come check on us._

 _With great Regards,_

 _Lisa L. Loud_

Lynn Sr, hit himself in the forehead for forgetting about that. Lisa had been looking forward to this experiment for months when she finally figured out a way to do it. The only reason that it had not happened until now was because everyone's schedule was booked. Lincoln had that calendar that he kept in his room with one of his sister's faces on every single box. Every time he saw it, there was never an empty spot, it was always booked. That's why Lisa had to plan it so far into the future, so that no one could back out at the last second.

When he finished reading the note, he walked out of the room, picking up Lily as he left, and went back downstairs, proceeding to make his way to the basement. The door to it was slightly ajar already, but he still proceeded with caution anyway. After all, if the smell of his famous pancakes didn't automatically make them come up, then there must have been something going on. Expecting a fight to break out as soon as he stepped in, he cautiously pushed the door open. But nothing could have prepared him for the next thing he witnessed.

Of course there were the beds in a circle surrounding a weird looking machine, but that wasn't the first thing that he was thinking about. Nine of his daughters, the tenth one being in his arms, looked like they were smothering the poor white haired boy in the middle. His first thought was to yell at them and get them off of his son as soon as possible, but looking closer, he not only saw that the girls had been crying, but also saw that Lincoln's face was wet with tears as well, except he was smiling. Whatever it was that happened, must have affected all of them. Even Lily, who wasn't even there, seemed affected by it in some way, because she was reaching towards the group of people, struggling to get out of her father's arms in the process.

"What the heck? What's going on?"

His curiosity got the better of him and he slowly started descending the wooden stairs into the basement. The creaks that were made every time he took a step were usually loud enough to get the attention of anyone down there, but not this time. Despite the loud creaking, the girls and Lincoln weren't fazed. They all remained in that huddle they were in, clinging to their brother. Lynn Sr stopped when he got to the bottom of the stairs and just looked on as they cried their hearts out. How could he break up something so touching, so amazing, something that never happened, especially in their house? He couldn't bring himself to call their attention. He didn't want to do that to them.

Lily, taking advantage of the fact that her father was distracted, squirmed her way out of his arms, and climbed down her father's torso and legs, then crawled over to where everyone else was and sat down on the ground, reaching up towards her brother. Lincoln looked down at his baby sister from the middle of the group hug, momentarily breaking it apart. If his heart hadn't melted by then, it certainly had now. He picked her up and she hugged him right along with everyone else, it was a picture perfect moment.

After several minutes of holding like this, Lori broke away from the group and walked over to where their father was. It had been nearly fifteen minutes since he walked down here now and had sat himself down on the very bottom step, just above the floor of the basement. He looked up at her with a wary look in his eye. She didn't look happy at all, but that wasn't what struck him first. There was something off about her. Something made her look more stressed out than normal and as her father, he was determined to find out what it was. However, he didn't need to pry any information out of her, she just sat down next to him on the steps and leaned over onto his shoulder. She had been drained, both physically and emotionally, but there was still something that she needed to get off of her chest.

"You don't know what happened yet..."

"No, I don't. You wanna tell me?"

"Not really, but I literally don't have much of a choice do I?"

"I'm not going to make you tell me."

"Trust me dad, this is something you need to know."

Lori sat up on the stairs and crossed her legs with her head looking down at the ground. Was she really about to tell him that Lincoln died right in front of them? Was she really going to go through with this? She still couldn't believe that it was all nothing more than a dream. A mere fantasy that was concocted by that infernal machine. The dull humming noise it was making gently echoed throughout the room. Like the sound of a ceiling fan, it was nothing but background noise and unnoticeable to anyone who wasn't paying attention. Lori could tell it was there though, her whole body was quivering with fear of having to recall everything that happened in the past three weeks, or so it seemed.

"Well, to make a long story short, Lincoln was diagnosed with an incurable disease and was supposed to die in two weeks..."

Lori's eyes were starting to water again. Despite having already gone through it once, thinking about him dying still brought tears to her eyes. It still made her feel vulnerable. She was the oldest, so she was supposed to be the strongest, she had to be the one that was there for all her other siblings, but even she couldn't handle some things that were thrown at her.

"At the end... He did..."

The sudden weight leaning on Lynn Sr took him by surprise. His oldest daughter was leaning on his shoulder, looking like she was holding onto him for dear life. It was too much for her to handle, and hearing this story started making him weak as well. How could his own son die of a terminal disease? It seemed impossible. He couldn't imagine such a terrible thing happening, and neither could any of the other family members. But this dream made them live it.

"But, it was just a dream, right?"

Lori slowly nodded her head, and then looked up at her father, "It didn't feel like one though... Everything we saw, everything we went through, it felt like real life. It didn't feel like a dream..."

She grabbed his shirt and pulled herself back onto him with a more pained expression on her face now. He put his right arm around her and just let her cry into his shoulder. He thought that it would all just pass soon and they would all be back to their normal selves. After a week or two, everything would be the same way it was before. But he still didn't completely understand the situation. He knew that they all saw Lincoln die, but that was all that he knew. He wasn't aware of the events that took place leading up to his death. He didn't know about the fight that Lynn had. He didn't know about the night where Luna went crazy. He didn't know about Lucy hiding in the junkyard. He didn't know about any of those things, so he couldn't give any words of comfort.

"But, there had to be something that made it feel like a dream... You know how in a dream, there will be things that are obviously wrong? And you just won't realize it until you wake up?" At this point, all he was trying to do was get his daughter to stop crying. She was never this upset before, even when Bobby "broke up" with her it didn't have this kind of effect. All he knew, was that she was in pain, and he was doing whatever he could to ease that pain. But all he saw were more tears as she shook her head in disagreement.

"That's not what happened... I thought that it couldn't have been a dream, because I literally remember wishing that it was a dream... and then I woke up, and I didn't believe it... I woke up, believing that Lincoln was..."

Her voice trailed off as the hand of her father held the back of her head. She closed her eyes, biting her lower lip as she tried to calm herself down. Lynn Sr was done trying to use words to make her feel better. If living in this family taught him anything, it was that speaking didn't always help. You can talk all you want and not have any effect on some people. For others, all you would do is make it worse, and this was one of those cases. Every time he said something, it only confirmed even more what had happened. This was one of those moments where silence was necessary. A shoulder to cry on was all Lori needed, and to her, there was only one shoulder that was comfy enough to cry on.

She couldn't do this with any of her siblings. She was supposed to be the strongest older sister, the one who never let anything get to her. They all knew that Lori had her moments, but she usually resolved them on her own. She never needed anyone else, at least, that was what she wanted them to think, which was why when she saw her father coming down the stairs, she got away from them so that she could release everything. Completely opening the barrier and letting everything out. It needed to happen. If nothing happened, then eventually it would become too much to handle. The walls would shatter and the girl that everyone thought was so strong would be defenseless, at least, that was her reasoning.

Before Lori woke up, she forced herself to move on, to get past the fact that Lincoln was gone forever. She would still remember him, of course. She even thought about the times when they would think about him the most. Christmas would come around and everyone would remember the things they got from him. At Halloween they would remember how he dressed up as Ace Savvy every time. During Easter, Lincoln and their father would be the ones to hide the eggs while the rest, even the older sisters if they so desired, went and looked for them. National Siblings day would be tough for them, giving each other presents that they think the other would like, however no one would be assigned to Lincoln. The most painful would be on his birthday though. Visiting his final resting place in the local cemetery on the same day every year. All of them would recall the day that he left them. His final words to them would be on their mind as they talked to him, telling him about everything that they did in recent times, despite the fact that he couldn't respond. All of their accomplishments, all of their joy, but mostly, all of their sorrow, wishing that he could still be there with them. Then the week following that day, no one would be able to think about anything else, except what it would be like if he was still there with them. It would be okay to remember him. It would be okay to mourn every time they thought about him, every time they thought about how unfair it was that he had to go the way he did. But it wouldn't be okay to not move on. They couldn't just act like he was still there. They would have to accept the fact that he was gone forever. But despite the fact that they didn't have to, Lori still did anyway.

When she woke up, she was still in pain from having to watch her brother die, but she made herself come to terms with the fact that Lincoln wasn't coming back. So seeing him right there in front of her, clearly alive and well, completely tore her barriers down. The dam that had taken her years to build up and fortify, were swept away by the sudden flood of emotions; happiness, sadness, anger, but most of all, confusion. Lincoln was dead, she was sure of it. But alas, he was sitting right there, not more than twenty feet away from her. How can you know that something is true, seeing the facts with your own eyes, but not being able to believe it? All of the evidence was right there in front of her, Lincoln was alive, she knew he was alive and wanted to believe it, but for some reason, couldn't. Why not?

Her brain was always riddled with unanswered questions. Some from school, others from home, some of them even came from her own mind. But there was one question that bothered her that she didn't ever have to think about, and she shouldn't have had to think about it. No one should ever have to try to answer this question, one of the only ones that actually defies all logic. How can you see something, and truly not believe it? The circumstances that made Lori ask herself this were obviously extenuating ones, but it should be in every case that seeing is believing. Lori was seeing, there was no doubt, but she wasn't believing, and it was destroying her.

* * *

Lincoln was looking over to his sister and father from where he was. He couldn't have imagined what she was going through. He couldn't imagine what any of his sisters were going through. They all just watched him die for goodness sake. But Lori's reaction bothered him the most. What was going on in her mind? Why wasn't she reacting like all of the others were? The thought remained in his head for ages and if it weren't for Lisa's sudden outburst, he probably would have gotten up and asked what was going on.

"Wait a minute..." Lisa said to herself. She then looked up at the ceiling pondering something and as she did, her face became more visibly distressed. "Oh no..." She finally said as she broke from the rest of the group.

"What's going on?" Luna asked.

"I'll be right back, there's a pressing matter that requires my immediate attention!"

"Okay... that was weird..."

"You're tellin' me... and I build mud pies..."

"Why did she leave all of a sudden?"

The question echoed through everyone's mind. The four year old scientist always had pressing matters to attend to, but this seemed quite urgent. It was like she was trying to prevent someone from dying. But despite their joking around about it, she really was. To her, it all made sense. The attention-defecit/hyperactivity-disorder combined with His white hair, and the possibility that their grandfather was albino as opposed to just having white hair made too much sense. Lisa had to know if what was happening in the dream was happening in real life. She had to make sure that her brother wasn't going to die. She didn't want to see him leave them a second time.

Running upstairs to her room, she rummaged through her equipment and notebooks until she finally found what she was looking for. A few months ago she designed and made a prototype for a handheld full-body scanner. She knew it worked. She tested it on Lily several times and many other times on the various pets around the house, but she never had a real reason to use it until now.

She turned it on and quickly scanned herself to make sure that it was working properly, and then ran back downstairs, nearly tripping and falling as she made her way down to the basement. To the others, it seemed like she was back in an instant, but to Lisa, the dread of knowing that what happened in the dream was possible in real life, made her more anxious than she cared to admit. She knew that it was a long shot that whatever happened in the dream was also happening in real life, but despite that, she was still worried about her brother. It was heart-breaking watching him die once, and heaven-forbid what might happen if they had to watch him die again.

When Lisa returned, leaving a trail of dust in the air behind her, the others looked confused. Then, when she jumped on top of Lincoln's bed and forced him to lie back down on it, they got even more confused.

"What the heck is going on dude?"

"Do you all have the cranial capacity of a Sciurus S. carolinensis!?"

Once again, they stared her down with the same dumbfounded look on their face.

"Apparently you do..."

She pressed a button on her device and immediately began scanning Lincoln, taking notice of any anomalies, no matter how small. These were things that may have seemed inconsequential at first, but as Lisa learned, even the most innocent symptoms could end up being life threatening. By the time they realized what was going on before, it was too late, and she, as well as the rest of her sisters, were forced to watch her brother die. If it happened to be the case that this really was happening to him, and he was, quite possibly on the verge of dying, she would do everything in her power to make sure it didn't happen again. Because there was no way she was willing to go through that again.

"What's going on dude?"

"Yeah, like, why are you zapping Linky?"

"I'm merely taking precautions. The Dream-Caster created a situation where some of Lincoln's characteristics ended up being the death of him. For example, his white hair and ADHD were caused by the tumor in his head that eventually killed him. I just want to be confident in the fact that this isn't happening in real life."

The statement made everyone else turn pale, except Leni who had no idea what Lisa said, and Lori who was still confiding in her father. "What do you mean? I don't get it."

"Leni..." Luna sighed. "Remember how in that dream we just had, Lincoln was sick and it made him... umm... well... you remember what happened right?"

"Oh... yeah... I remember..."

"She's making sure that he's not sick."

"Oh..." at this point, they all began shedding tears once again. Even Lisa, the most stoic of them when it came to emotions couldn't help tears falling from her own eyes. She knew that just one bad scan would be all it took for this entire thing to happen all over again. Then they would take him to the hospital, only to find out that it would be too late. One by one, they would act out and get in trouble somehow. Then at the end, they would have to watch him leave them, again.

It may not seem like the odds of those exact same circumstances happening again were even remotely high, but to Lisa, it seemed to be much too coincidental. She knew the odds of this happening to any of them at random, but the evidences for Lincoln's case were there. She ran through the different variables in her head, and found out that the odds of that happening were actually much higher than any of them thought. They were high enough to make her not tell anyone what they were. A thirty-five percent chance may not seem like a lot, but just the fact that they were even that high scared her more than she cared to show.

"What's going on over there?" Lori asked.

"Lisa's making sure that Lincoln's not sick."

"Lincoln... That's right... He's alive... Why do I keep forgetting?"

Though Lori was still trying to convince herself that Lincoln was living and right there with them, the others were too concerned about what was happening in front of them. Lincoln kept still as Lisa continued scanning his body. How long was it going to take? What if he really was sick? What if he had to go through all of it again? Just the prospect of it made Lincoln pale. The chemicals running through his body kept interfering with getting an accurate scan, which only made Lisa more nervous.

Meanwhile the other sisters still had tears falling from their eyes. Just thinking about Lincoln dying again made them all break down. They couldn't stand to live without him. The Louds were generally able to handle whatever life threw at them. Lynn had gotten over her past losses, Luna had moved past her worst performances, Luan had even been able to get over people booing her offstage at times, but a death in the family was different. Especially one that was so close to them. It made them realize that they didn't deserve a brother like Lincoln. Despite having a few selfish moments, he always wanted what was best for his sisters, and when they finally realized this, he was dying. They wouldn't trade him for anything or anyone. Losing him? That wasn't even an option as far as they were concerned. They would do anything for their only brother, and they had more than proved it at this point.

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"I don't know yet... It seems to be hesitant on giving me a definitive answer..."

"Well hurry up!"

"You can't rush this kind of technology! If you do It'll..."

Three consecutive beeps were heard coming from the device, interrupting them, and indicating that the scan was finished. All of them went silent and stared at the flashing red light on the screen. The only sound that could be heard was the groaning of the pipes above them. With shaky hands, Lisa brought the device closer to her face to read it. The flashing red light indicated that there was something abnormal going on, and immediately, she feared the worst, as did the rest of them. There was a moment of hesitation before finally, Lisa gulped and read aloud the results of the scan, not bothering reading it for herself first.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading the first chapter in this epilogue series. I appreciate all the support for it and be sure to leave a review and go read some of my other stories! I bet y'all are gonna hate me for the cliffhanger until I put the next chapter out there. Just a warning, it may be a while before I do get the next chapter out. I need to work on the next chapter of Kidnapped. Thanks again, and I hope you liked it!**


	4. Post Awakening - Chapter Two

**Thanks for the support for this story. In this chapter, there are a few references to "No such Luck" and my one-shot that derived from it. In the Author's note of said story, I said I hated that episode so much, that I essentially changed the way it ended, technically making it an AU version of "No Such Luck". In my story, I said that Lincoln ran away instead of being kicked out. I am writing this as if these two stories are in the same universe.** **Also, I decided to make this all one chapter instead of just adding another back into rhythm chapter because of reasons that I will explain at the end. Anyway, sorry it took so long to get it out, hope you like it.**

 **Post Awakening**

 **Chapter 2 - Back into Rhythm (pt 2)**

"To start off, his respiratory system is functioning at sub-par levels, his potassium and iron levels are a bit low, there is the most minuscule amount of plaque buildup in his femoral artery, and he does actually have Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder as well as a slight case of carpal tunnel syndrome from playing video-games too often..."

They all looked at Lisa, waiting for an answer of some kind. When they didn't get one, Luna spoke up, "So what's the good news?"

Lisa adjusted her glasses before responding, "He won't be leaving us in the near future."

A collective sigh of relief could be heard throughout the room. Even Lori, who was still unsure of what to think of the whole situation was slightly more relieved than she was before.

"Oh thank goodness..." Lynn said out loud, sniffling a little bit. "I don't wanna have to go through that again."

"I think the rest of us can agree with that," Luna agreed. Everyone else nodded their heads and went back to hug Lincoln, who was now at this point, nearly suffocating.

Some more time passed as the Loud children let everything out; crying and sobbing and hoping they don't have to see not just Lincoln, but any of them die. Lynn Sr finally decided to make a move and stood up. Lori was still sitting next to him so she was startled for a second when he got up.

"Kids!" They all slowly moved turned their heads in his direction. He looked right back at them, trying to keep as solid of a composure as he could, but was wavering himself a little bit just thinking about the fact that they had all gone through the same traumatic experience. His only hope at this point was that they would be better off from this.

"Breakfast is ready. I made pancakes."

"Whoa, dudes, we haven't had pancakes in months!"

"Technically it has only been a week since the last time we had that delicious concoction, as we were only in the dream for a mere sixteen hours, despite the fact that we experienced approximately twenty-two days in it."

"Wait, so you're saying we only fell asleep just yesterday afternoon?"

"That is correct..."

"Whoa... Trippy dudes..."

"Wait, did I still get my beauty sleep or not?"

Lana looked over at her and shrugged. Lisa merely smacked her head, finding it hard to believe that they were be thinking about that as opposed to the intricacies that went on with the dream.

"So, like, all those clothes I sewed for Linky... what happened to them?"

"They were never real Leni, you didn't actually make them."

"Wait... I didn't?"

"No, you were in a dream."

"I know that, but... wait, I get it now, it was a dream, so I have to fall asleep again, then I can bring the clothes back here right?"

"Leni... that's not how it works..."

While everyone else was talking and chatting, Lincoln had made his way to the dining room to eat some pancakes. Taking his normal seat he cut a chunk out of the stack that was on his plate and shoved them into his mouth. They were cold, but still good. His father, who had not yet shaved that morning, came up to join him. Lynn Sr sat down right next to his son and ruffled Lincoln's white hair as he plopped himself down.

"So... Lori told me what happened..."

"Yeah... I think they got it worse than I did..."

"Why do you say that kiddo..."

"I may have died dad... but they had to watch me die... I don't know if Lori told you this, but before I... um... woke up... I was telling them my final words, as if I really were on my deathbed, because I thought I was... And they thought I was too... I bid them farewell for the rest of their lives, and then woke up to find out it was all just a dream... Something that never happened..."

Lynn Sr's eyes went wide hearing this. He knew that Lori would have obviously left a few details out, being rather distraught, but he never thought that she would miss telling him something like this. At this point he was starting to wonder why they had the dream they did. Did Lisa plan for this to happen? Could she have even controlled what they dreamed about? He wanted to ask Lincoln all these questions because he was right there, but judged against it, deciding to ask Lisa about it Later. What made him think that Lincoln even knew the answers to those questions.

"Dad..."

"Yes son?"

"There was a day, in the dream where you and I went to Silver Lake... And you told me what or who all of us were named after."

"And you want to know if it's true or not?"

"Yeah, I kind of do."

"Well son, Lori..."

"Was named after the friend that brought you and mom together... because when you found out mom was pregnant, you and mom got back together, so you named her Lori. That's what you told me in the dream."

Lynn Sr was astounded. Not only was he correct in who Lori was named after, but also about why. "What about Luna?"

"Named after the Spanish word for moon as you, mom, Leni, and Lori were going for an evening stroll."

"What about Lily, there's no way you could get that one right!"

"Harry Potter's mother, right?"

"What the Heck! How did this all come to you?"

"That question would be better for Lisa. I have no idea."

There shouldn't have been any way on Earth that Lincoln would be able to know what had happened unless Lori had told him, because she was the only one who knew all these things.

They both sat there in silence for a moment as Lincoln finished his pancakes. A few minutes after he had finished, the rest of his sisters, with Lori dragging behind them, came up the stairs to find that the table had been set for them. Cold pancakes were sitting on ten plates that were ready and waiting to be eaten. They didn't know it when they walked in, but Lincoln had set the table for them. Even after what happened, he still wanted what was best for them. How did they get a brother like him? They, by no means, deserved him. Before the dream, they all treated him like trash. The whole, "Good Luck/Bad Luck" ordeal made them briefly consider what they were doing, but it took his death to truly make them realize all of the terrible things they did to him when compared to the things he did for them.

He wasn't the most selfless person by any means, he had his selfish moments and they all knew it. It was mostly his own doing that they thought he was even bad luck in the first place, but his worst moments didn't even hold a candle to their worst moments. Every time he did something that made them mad, even if it was on accident, he tried to fix it to the best of his ability. He always tried so hard to make his sisters happy, but what was the best thing they did in return? They bought a cheap plastic trophy for him and scribbled the words, "most improved brother" on it. He was even glad to receive it, just because it was coming from them. But the things he did for them, they all just brushed aside. It may have been because they were used to him doing things like that, but the fact that they didn't show him the appreciation that they should have been showing him, was what was breaking them down.

"So girls, I umm... heard about what happened... Would anyone like to tell me more?"

Lynn Sr knew that he had to choose his words carefully. With all of them coming out of what was potentially a traumatic experience was nothing to joke about. If he didn't say the right thing, he might have had a small crisis on his hands.

"Not really actually..."

"Normally, even I would be more than ecstatic to inform you on the scientific progress that was made from this experiment, but at the moment, I am lacking the mental clarity due to the events that transpired while we were unconscious."

"English please?"

"I don't want to say anything regarding what just happened..." under her breath, Lisa then murmured, "Simpleton."

"What did you just call me?!"

"Would you really like to know?!"

"I would!"

"I said you're a simpleton!"

"I've, like, heard that word before... some nerdy guys at school called me that once!"

"Oh, it's not just them Leni..."

"Ugh... here we go again..."

"Guys, can we for once, not fight with each other?" Lori exclaimed, standing up.

Her sudden outburst took all of them by surprise. No one was expecting Lori of all people to try to stop them from fighting. After all, she was the one with the worst temper, if anything, they thought that she would join in on any of the arguments that were going on.

"Listen, I know that literally sounds strange coming from me of all people. Trust me, even I'm surprised at myself, but did we learn nothing? We can't just go through life treating each other like garbage. We got lucky that Lincoln didn't really... you know..." None of them even wanted to say the word for fear of breaking out into tears again. "But what if something like that did happen? What if there was some sort of accident and one of us got badly hurt, or even killed? Would you really want this to be the last conversation you had?"

All of them stopped the arguments that they were having and went back to eating their breakfast with shame on their faces. They knew that she was right. Normally, it wouldn't be her to say something like that, but she had been changed, and they could all see it. Lori sat back down and then continued eating.

"Lincoln set the table for you today, did you know that?"

"Ugh... why did you have to say that dad?"

Their eyes all turned to the boy with white hair, sitting close to the end of the crowded table. He shot a glance at his dad who just shrugged. He was about to just go back to twiddling his fingers, but the person sitting next to him, wrapped her arms around him. His annoyance turned to surprise and slight embarrassment when he felt Lynn's arms wrapping around his shoulders. Lincoln wasn't sure how to respond to this. All he could think to do was wrap his arms around her as well. It wasn't just Lynn though. Luna soon walked over to him and followed suit, as well as Leni, Lana, and Lola, and before long, all of his sisters were surrounding him in a big group hug.

"Thanks Linc... You didn't have to do that."

"Well... I..."

"After everything we do to you, why do you still do these things anyway?"

"Because I love you guys, plain and simple. No matter what you may do to me or what you may think of me, I'm always going to love you guys."

"Aww, Lincoln."

"You really are the best brother ever."

As they all embraced their brother for a hug, Lori spoke up again. "Guys..." she sighed, trying to think of the right words to say. It wasn't ever easy doing this, especially now, but she thought that it was the best time for it. "Do y'all remember how we acted in the dream, after we found out... umm... the news?"

Everyone nodded. They remembered for sure, but why did she ask? Where was she going with this? What was she going to say?

"I guess what I'm trying to say, is... when we found out what was happening to Lincoln, we all started acting differently. Yes, we were all more stressed out, but we also stopped treating each other like... umm..."

"Like we were forced to live together?"

"That's literally it. We stopped treating each other like that and we actually started acting like a family should."

"So what are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that I don't think we should stop just because it was all a dream. I mean, come on guys, if it takes someone dying for us to really get it together and really, truly be a family, that in itself shows that there was a problem to begin with, and if we're being honest with ourselves, we all know what the problem is." Everyone looked at Lincoln, but not with a mad or even slightly upset look. Instead, it was a look of regret and sorrow. "So as the oldest, I'll start..." Lori got down on her knees next to Lincoln and grabbed his hands. The boy blushed a little bit, but only because he didn't know what she was doing. "I'm sorry Lincoln. I'm sorry for all the times I hit you, for all the times I took your room for my own selfish reasons, for all the times that I was ungrateful, and especially for all the times that I provoked you." She paused for a moment and glanced around the room, seeing the surprised, but not quite shocked faces of everyone else sitting there. To her they all looked a bit skeptical that she would say something like that, so she responded further. "And to prove that I really mean it, literally, and that I'm not just saying it to save face, the rule that I made a long time ago, about never coming into my room except for emergencies, is officially revoked. And not just for Lincoln either, but for everyone as long as I live in this house."

Immediately, every face in the room turned from slight skepticism, to complete shock, eliciting some gasps as well. Even their own father was surprised that Lori would say something like this.

"Whoa... Lori, you don't have to do that for my sake!"

"See what I mean? Even when I'm trying to recompense for all the times I've wronged you, you still think about me before yourself... Which literally isn't something any of the rest of us have ever done... Besides, I'm not doing this for your sake. I'm literally doing this for me. This is something that I need to do, not just to prove to you guys that I'm trying to be different, but to prove it to myself as well. Because now that I've said it, I can't go back."

Lori went silent after that, expecting Lincoln to try to make a rebuttal, but he didn't. He just sat there in silence. He for sure knew that they had wronged him before, but did it really take until just now, to realize that he was doing these things the whole time anyway? Did he know what he was doing for them? What if he didn't even realize it? What if he was just such a kindhearted person that he thought that his behavior was considered normal? It may have be ignorant to think that, but neither Lori, nor any of his other sisters were in any place to talk to him about ignorance. For nearly all of his life, all of them were ignorant of his wants, of his privacy, even his needs in some cases.

"Lincoln, I know that you don't want us to have to do anything, but..." Lori sighed and paused for a moment before speaking up again. "There's something that we have to do. We have to be more like... well... more like you..."

Lincoln was astounded at this. They needed to be more like him? He wasn't totally oblivious to the fact that he was generally more selfless than they were. They nearly kicked him out of the house for goodness sake, that's not something that you can just ignore! But to go so far as to say they needed to be more like him was something that seemed totally ridiculous. But they were all thinking it. All of his sisters, and even his own dad knew that they hadn't been treating him like they were supposed to treat him, let alone how he deserved to be treated.

"Lincoln, dude, if I know you as well as I think I do, then I know you're thinking that we feel like we have to pay you back in some way, right?"

Lincoln nodded his head.

"And If that's the case, then I bet you're also thinking that you don't think we need to do that... right?"

Once again, Lincoln silently agreed.

"Well then as right as you may be about us, I guess there's no getting that out of your head. That being said, if you need anything, and I mean anything, even if it's not something I'm even able to do, I'll at least be there for you bro."

"I concur with Luna's statement. And if I may join in with Lori in changing something significant about my behavior, after this meeting has concluded, I will no longer be using the video cameras in the house for observation purposes and they will only be used for security measures. And as a further measure to assure that I will not be observing you in your rooms, after this meeting has concluded, I will need assistance transferring the monitors to whatever room in the house our parental units would prefer to have it kept."

"Wait, you've got video cameras in every room in the house?"

"It appears that I have neglected to mention that to you."

Lynn Sr gave Lisa a stern look, but given the circumstances of the moment, moved on from it, allowing Leni to speak. "Linky, I know I'm not the smartest one here, but I do know, that as your sisters, we're supposed to stand up for you, even if it means going against each other sometimes. And as much as I may have wanted to, I haven't always done that. But I promise, from now on, I'll stand up for you, even if everyone else is ganging up on you."

After she was finished, everyone took their turn vowing something to Lincoln and then promising to do something different. "I'm gonna start formally inviting all of you to my tea parties from now on, with fancy invitations. And I promise, I won't make anyone go if they don't want to."

"I'll admit, I've gone overboard for April Fool's day before, but from this day forward, no more. I'll treat it just like a normal day!"

Whether it was something as small as no more mud pies in the house, or something as huge as what Lori promised. All of them except Lynn, who wasn't able to think of something, despite her best efforts. And it devastated her. She felt like she was the main perpetrator for most of Lincoln's suffering, yet she was the only one who couldn't think of something to do for him. She felt like she was the closest to him, she should know him better than any of his other sisters, yet she was drawing a blank. She couldn't just say she was going to treat him better in general every day, it was an unspoken agreement that they were going to do that. But at the same time, she felt like she couldn't just say she would stop hitting him playfully, that's not something big enough to symbolize her making a difference. She didn't think she was showing it, but this thing was tearing her apart.

"Lynn, you didn't say anything," Lori quipped.

Lynn automatically assumed Lori was mad at her for not having said anything and quickly responded with, "I'm thinking, okay!" Then she turned to look at her oldest sister. The look on her face was not one of anger at all, and it just mad Lynn feel worse. Instead of trying to accuse her of not caring or something of the like, Lori was actually curious as to why she didn't say anything.

"What are you thinking?" Luna asked.

"I don't really wanna say..." Lynn began. She knew it wasn't like her to reveal her deepest thoughts to anyone, even her own siblings, and her pride was the whole reason she was like that. She sighed, "I can't think of anything good enough to prove that I want to be different too. It seemed to be so easy for you guys to do it, I mean for goodness sake, Lori knew exactly what it was she was going to say!" Lynn had raised her voice significantly now. "I was the one who thought Lincoln was bad luck and then convinced everyone else too!" Everyone cringed a bit when she mentioned that, including Lynn Sr. "I'm the one who bullies him the most and force him to practice sports with me among other things. I've been the worst offender, and I need to do something big enough that will make up for it, but no matter how hard I try... I just can't think of anything good enough!"

After slamming her fist on the table, Lynn crossed her arms on the table and rested her face into them, sobbing quietly. No one said anything and no one even moved. She felt an arm reach around her and someone's hand rest on the opposite shoulder, but didn't change anything about her posture. She just kept herself down like she was and tried to make herself stop crying. Being the tough one is not easy by any means. Everyone expects a person with no softness, no weakness, and keeping that up in moments like these are stressful. But at this moment, Lynn didn't care about any of that. She didn't care that she was the tough one, the strong one, the solid one. She only cared about one thing right now, and that was Lincoln.

If she had realized it was his arm around her, she would have perked up much sooner, but her mind was much too distracted, trying to make sense of too much. Her thoughts were tormenting her, "Why did I do all those terrible things? What could I have possibly been thinking? Why does he not hate me? Why doesn't he seek revenge? Why does he still do nice things for me? After all I've done, why?"

"Lynn..."

Her head jerked up to see his bright green eyes staring right into hers. She had never noticed that their eyes were the only ones that shared the same color. The rest of them had their mother's blue eyes, but only Lincoln and his immediate older sister had their father's eyes. His smile was something too. That smile made all of her questions melt into nothing more than a subconscious passing moment. It made her feel like she had never felt before. She was always the one who tried to comfort him, but in this moment, that was different. His smile made her feel comforted, made her feel pleasant, it made her feel loved. She had felt this before, but not for a long time. When she had gotten into sports, she became the tough, hardcore person that everyone knew her as. However, it was not like that at the moment. The way she thought of herself her entire life, had changed in an instant.

She couldn't take it anymore. Looking into his eyes broke her down and she fell into his arms, nearly knocking him off of the chair he was sitting in. As she rested, sobbing on his chest, she felt his arms wrap around her as if he knew exactly what to do. She didn't care that the rest of her siblings saw them, she wasn't worried about what they thought. It was this feeling that she had that kept her there. The feeling, not just of loving someone, but of being loved in return as well. She hadn't felt it in such a long time, and it was so much better than anyone could have thought.

"Thanks Linc..." She said sitting up, now more calm as well.

"Were you able to think of anything?" Lola asked.

"Not yet, but I will..."

"How do you know?"

"I've got a good feeling..."

* * *

Just a few minutes later everyone left the table to go do whatever they wanted to do. Lori tore the sign off of her room, Lola started writing invitations, and Luan started getting rid of her April Fool's day plans, which to her surprise, were much worse than she originally thought they were. "Wow, was I really this bad?"

"Yes Luan..." Her roommate replied from her bunk, not missing a beat. Luan didn't even realize that she was talking out loud. "You lose control when it comes to April Fool's day. Half of us could have been sent to the hospital this year! You're lucky that that didn't happen..."

Luan felt sick with herself. Had she always been like this? What if they had tried to tell her and she just ignored them. A thought suddenly came to her mind. They had always tried to tell her. That was why they locked her in that cage one year. That was why they sent her to that clown camp this year. They were trying to tell her that she was over-doing it by locking her up and sending her away, but she never paid any attention to it, thinking,"Oh, this is just who I am!" It took until now to realize that if "Who you are" is hurting other people, especially those who you claim to love, then your idea of "Who you are" needs to change.

"Oh my gosh... I'm so sorry... I didn't ever want to hurt you guys, I just wanted to have some fun..."

"Luan, it's okay." Luna said, suddenly realizing the effects of what she said. "We've all treated each other badly in the past, for goodness sake, I kicked all of you out of the family band trying to impress Mick Swagger and made dad cry."

"But you haven't nearly gotten anyone killed yet. I almost did with this year's April Fool's."

Luna sighed, trying to think of something to cheer her sister up. It was partially her fault that Luan felt like this, so she had to say something. "You may be right about that..." that only made Luan sulk even more, "but you're doing something about it, right?"

Luan looked back up at her sister, who had jumped down from her bunk and was now standing in front of her. "Yeah, I guess."

"How about this dude. If you really want to prove that you're going to change, then rip up those papers you're holding."

"Right now?"

"Right now!"

Luan looked down at the papers and audibly gulped. As terrible as these plans were for next year, they were just so good. They were her best ones yet. She couldn't just get rid of them. Maybe she could save them for other people. People who weren't her family. People that would be more willing to take this kind of thing. But was it worth it? If she did keep these plans, how was she going to know for sure that she wasn't going to use them on her family? Only when the time came would she know for sure. But even so, was it worth the risk? Some of them had almost been hospitalized this year and next year was planned to be even worse. Would she be able to live with herself if she did hurt one of them? Or even worse, kill them?

"I'm waiting..."

Luan finally closed her eyes and grabbed the top two edges of the few sheets of paper she was holding. Then, taking a deep breath, she opened her eyes and started pulling each edge in opposite directions, causing the papers to begin ripping right down the middle. And then, it was finished. The papers had been ripped all the way down to the bottom, completely torn in half. Now less anxious, she stacked the two ripped halves and turning it ninety degrees, ripped it in half again, repeating the process until there were nothing but small leaflets scattered on the floor of their room.

Luna smiled at her, "I knew you could do it sis," and she jumped back up onto her bunk. Luan looked down at the shreds of paper and began wondering to herself why that was so hard. It could not have been easier. So why did it feel so hard? Luan was not normally the type of person to wonder these things, but recent circumstances have totally made everything different. She was still going to be the same, fun-loving prankster she always had been, just in a different way now.

* * *

The twins were both doing two completely different things, as per the norm. Lana was outside climbing the tree in the backyard since it was dry and there was no mud to play in and Lola was rehearsing for her most recent pageant, which was coming up in just a few days. Lana, who had climbed up the tree quite a fair distance, was looking into their room, watching Lola practice for whatever it was she had going on. It wasn't all that appealing, but then, Lola did something that caught her eye. She couldn't quite make out what it was, so she shimmied along the branch she was on so as to get a closer look, right as she came close to the end, the branch snapped and dropped from below her as she let out a loud shriek. She was able to grab onto another branch to stop herself from falling all the way to the ground, but wasn't able to lift herself back up to a stable position.

Naturally, Lola heard the shriek and went over to the window to see what was going on. Opening it, she looked around and was about to tell her twin sister to quiet down, but then saw her dangling from what looked like a quite flimsy branch.

"Lana!" She immediately dropped whatever it was she was doing and ran downstairs to get someone to help. She remembered that Lori didn't have the rule about barging into her room anymore and rushed there, only to find it empty. As it had turned out, her and Leni had left to go do some shopping. So she went to the next person's room she thought of, and that happened to be Lincoln. She swung the door open to find him sitting at his desk with his headphones on, typing away at something on his laptop. Her sudden explosive entry startled him and he turned around. Lola ran at him and grabbed his arm, pulling him out the door before he even had the chance to take his headphones off.

"Lola, what's going on?" Lincoln asked, resisting his little sister's tugs.

Still trying to pull him along, she let out in a worried tone, "Lana's gonna fall! Hurry, she's in the backyard!"

"What!?"

Lincoln escaped his sister's grasp and started running downstairs, making his way to the backyard. Once outside, he looked around, and sure enough, Lana was barely hanging onto a branch, that was bending beyond what it should have been. Lana saw her older brother and brightened up a bit, still trying to hang on and pull herself up, to no avail.

Lincoln ran until he was right underneath her and Lola was next to him, just a few feet away. After assessing the situation, Lincoln determined that she would have to let go so he could catch her. "Lana, let go!"

"No way! I can make it back up!" she didn't want to admit it, but just the thought of her falling, even though it wasn't even that far, scared her out of her mind. There was always another way to do it, and Lana was determined to find it, no matter how long it took. But as time ticked on, she found herself more stuck.

"Lana, you have to let go! Lincoln's gonna catch you!"

"Nuh-uh, I can do this!" she said, feigning confidence. But every route she possibly thought of only proved fruitless, there wasn't a branch nearby big enough for her to grab onto, or even jump onto, and the more she looked and didn't find, the more scared she got until finally, the branch started cracking.

"Lana, please let go! You have to trust me! I promise I'll catch you!"

She gulped and looked down at Lincoln who had his arms outstretched, ready to snatch Lana from the air. She knew it was the only way to get down. The branch started cracking louder and finally, there was one that made the entire limb shift, which startled the already scared Lana, making her let go of it. She closed her eyes and screamed as she more rapidly descended, but right before she hit the ground, she felt the soft fabric of Lincoln's shirt sleeve and held tightly onto it as she gently floated into Lincoln's arms. Realizing that she wasn't hurt, she opened her eyes and looked up at the person who was cradling her in his arms, safe and sound.

"You okay?" he asked with a smile. The same smile he gave Lynn just a few hours ago. The same comforting smile that he always used when his sisters were in need. The older of the two twins nodded as she was let down onto the ground.

"Lana! How did that happen?"

"I was watching you do something weird, it wasn't like anything you normally do, but anyway, when I tried getting closer to see what it was, the branch that I was on broke and fell out from under me, but I caught another one."

"You scared me, I thought you were gonna get hurt!"

"I... I did?"

Lola bashfully nodded her head and looked down. After having to watch Lincoln die, the prospect of any of them even getting hurt, especially Lincoln and her twin sister, scared her every time. It always did, but that feeling became significantly amplified recently.

"Aww... Thanks sis..." Lana scrambled over and hugged Lola, which Lola graciously returned.

"This is too good." Lincoln whipped out his phone and brought up the camera to seize the moment as quick as he could.

* * *

One would think that Lucy, being someone who thinks about death on a regular basis, wouldn't be bothered too much by the prospect of the death of someone they knew. But thinking about death, and actually seeing someone die are two totally different things. It was something that came as a shock to Lucy. There were plenty of times where she had seen someone die on TV. Those people never actually got hurt. They never felt anything from watching someone feign death, and Lucy knew this. But she also knew that it was a fairly accurate representation of how someone would die in real life. She never even considered the fact, however, that she would ever express such emotions, even if it was a family member.

"What'cha doin' luce?"

"I'm pondering death again..."

"Oh... well, I'll be back in a minute. Linc said he needed help with something."

"You don't need to tell me..."

Lynn almost left the room, but stopped in her tracks just before closing the door. She looked back over at Lucy. She wasn't doing anything. She wasn't sitting up meditating, she wasn't talking to Edwin, she was just laying in her bed, not even on her pillow. Her head was nearly against the wall and her feet were falling over the edge of the bed, dangling just above the space between the floor and the mattress. Lynn made her way back into the room and closed the door.

"I thought you needed to help Lincoln with something?"

"I did, I just wanna... make sure you're doing okay first."

Suspicious of Lynn's behavior, Lucy asked, "Why? This isn't something that you've ever done except when you want something."

"Normally you would be totally right, but not this time. I mean, c'mon, we both just saw our only brother die..."

That string of words being said audibly pricked both of them more than thought it would. Lucy sighed and Lynn walked over to the bed, sitting down on it next to Lucy. Lucy didn't mind it all that much as long as Lynn didn't start talking, but they both knew that wasn't going to be an an option. So the goth girl laid in bed, enjoying the silence while it lasted. Lynn decided to speak up.

"What's bothering you? Is it what I think it is?"

Lucy nodded, sat up, and made herself comfortable, laying back on some pillows that she had rested against the headboard. Lynn wasn't the best with words so Lucy was not expecting anything helpful to come out of her mouth. But to her surprise, that was not the case.

"I don't blame you honestly, I think all of us are going to be acting different for a while, especially towards Linc... He's probably gonna hate us for a while... heh..." Lynn paused for a moment to chuckle, thinking about how funny it's going to be to see him annoyed. "But it's not like we all have to change who we are... I'm still gonna love sports, Luna's still gonna love music, and Leni's still gonna love clothes! We're just... going in a different direction is all... It took that dream for us to realize that we could take a different path, granted a more difficult path, but for sure more rewarding! Trust me, I know all about things that are rewarding!"

While Lynn wasn't exactly fluent with her words, it for sure helped Lucy with her mood. It made sense to her. She didn't have to stop being who she was just because change was all of a sudden required of them. She could change her attitude and general behavior while staying a goth.

"Well... Linc's probably been waiting for me for a while now. I better get back to helping him."

* * *

"Leni, why did you want to go to the mall again?"

"We totes need to get Lincoln a new wardrobe! Like, the same orange polo every day is soooooo boring..."

"Leni, don't you literally think we should ask Lincoln what he wants first?"

"I already did! He said he like, didn't care as long as it was orange!"

"Alright, what are we getting?"

"I've got a plan to make Lincoln, like, the most fashionable kid in school!"

Lori was totally baffled by this. Lincoln was never one for fashion. When Leni modeled him for dresses, Lori could tell that he was not too excited and sometimes even felt so much pity for him that she told Leni she needed Lincoln for something, just so that she wouldn't have to see him go through all that. What Leni was doing was harmless of course, but even so, Lori still had her doubts.

"So what exactly are we getting?"

"We're here make sure Lincoln gets his clothes silly!"

"Yes Leni, I know that, but I thought you were gonna make them..."

"I am, but I can't make anything without fabric. Besides, I need to get him some new shoes to go with his new outfit!"

"Leni," Lori sighed. "What if Lincoln doesn't want new clothes?"

"Oh, I've already taken that into account. I know for sure he's gonna like it."

"If you insist..." Lori played along with Leni's game. As right as Leni was about Lincoln needing new clothes, she wasn't sure if this was the right direction to go in.

* * *

"Well Linky?!" Leni said in a very drawn out way. "How do you like it?"

Lincoln looked at himself in the mirror. The diagonally striped charcoal/black sports jacket went surprisingly well with the white dress shirt with just a hint of orange hue and striped orange tie. Not to mention he totally pulled off the jeans with that coat and shirt combo. He was gonna have to figure out how to tie the tie the right way, but to Lincoln, and everyone else too, he looked better than he had in a long time.

"Wow Leni! You've outdone yourself this time..."

"I was skeptical at first Leni, but once again, you have proven me wrong."

"You made this for him Leni?"

"Of course! Only the best for my little Linky!"

"Lincoln, you still haven't told her what you think!"

"I... I don't know what to say... It all fits perfectly and it looks awesome! I really like it!"

"Oh! Wait, I forgot something!" Leni rushed back to her room to go get something. All of the others looked back in curiosity, wondering what Leni could have possibly forgotten. Their question was soon answered as Leni rushed back with a white fedora with three thin black stripes running around the base of it.

"Put this on. Then it will be perfect!"

Lincoln took the fedora from Leni's hands and put it on, then looked in the mirror. He thought he looked amazing. He started considering wearing this on the first day back to school.

"Wow... Thanks a lot Leni!"

"Oh, it's nothing. I've got a few more planned actually."

"Really? I'd love to see 'em!"

"I must admit, Lincoln does look quite astounding, but actually, I require Lincoln's presence. There is something that I require of him and only him due to the fact that he is a biological male."

"Okay Lisa, you didn't need to say that much."

"Please Lincoln, come into my room."

"Okay Lis," Lincoln was wondering what Lisa could possibly have to say. She said he was fine so he assumed it wasn't anything bad. It still made him wonder though. What kind of thing so desperately needed his attention right now?

"Have a seat Lincoln," he sat down on the edge of the young scientist's bed. Lisa was scribbling away at some papers, but was obviously not too involved in them, as she started chatting with Lincoln about the dream. "I was actually quite surprised to find that the Dream-Caster used our memories as well as all of the information on the internet available to produce a world that looks exactly like ours."

"I guess that's pretty cool, but why did it choose the... umm..."

"Scenario?"

"Yeah, why did it choose a scenario where I died?"

"Technically, it didn't. I coded it to where it had two different main categories to choose from. A generally positive dream, or a generally negative one. It then chose at random one of those categories, which happened to be the negative one, then it took all of the current information that was provided to it via the internet and all of our brains and then produced the scenario that was most likely to bring us the most sadness."

"Why did you even give it an option?"

"Because I wasn't expecting it to give us the most positive or negative dream possible. I was under the assumption that it was just going to be either kind of positive or kind of negative. Every test result previous to this one proved my theory, but now I'm going to have to re-assess everything about it."

Suddenly, Lisa straightened her papers and walked over to Lincoln, standing right in front of him.

"What are those for?"

"These, are the real reason I asked you here," she said with a more hushed voice.

"Wait, all that stuff about the dream? That wasn't it?"

"No. I was just rambling on until our siblings stopped eavesdropping on us. And according to the video camera I just installed outside my room, it appears that they are all gone."

"Oh... okay... so what was it you needed to tell me?" With that question, Lisa's expression got much more serious.

"Remember how I said you weren't leaving in the near future?"

"Yeah?"

"It wasn't an accident that I used those words."

* * *

 **Whoa... Anyway, my big announcement is that this story will be going on Hiatus for a while so that I can finish "Kidnapped," and it's because this story is going on Hiatus that I wanted to finish the Getting back into Rhythm part of the story, which is also the reason this chapter is longer than the others. So yes, on the next chapter of this story I will finally begin on each individual sisters' chapters, starting with Lisa. She's going to explain what's going on with Lincoln and then some other stuff is going to happen. But for now, you're going to have to wait!** **I will be finishing "Kidnapped" before coming back to this one.**


	5. Post Awakening - Chapter Three

**So. I'm back with another chapter of this. I really appreciate all of you for reading my stories and I appreciate your patience in waiting for this to come out!**

 **Now, I know in the previous part I said there was going to be a chapter for each sister, but I changed my mind on that. I think I may just do like three or four more chapters and then Lincoln's chapter which will be the final one of the story. Remember, the story is technically already finished, all of this that I am updating are just epilogue chapters.**

 **I hope you Enjoy this chapter of "Requiem for a Loud - A Fan Made Ending"**

* * *

 **Post Awakening**

 **Chapter 3 - Interesting Revelations**

He wasn't going anywhere in the near future. Would that mean that something is awaiting him further down the road? Did he actually have some kind of incurable condition?

"Allow me to elaborate," Lisa began. Lincoln, worried out of his mind, began listening intently. "In the dream, you were diagnosed with Neurofibromitosis type one. Also, it was in such an advanced state that you were only allotted mere weeks with us. The interesting truth revealed by my recent experiment is that you do have this condition."

Before she even finished talking, Lincoln's mind immediately went to everything that happened in the dream. From the moment he was diagnosed with it, all of the interactions he had with different people, all his sisters, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, to the end where he finally passed. All of it rushed through his head. Was all of this going to happen again? Not just that, but was he going to have to tell all of them that he was dying again? It was hard enough having to tell everyone what was happening the first time. Nobody took it very well at all, especially his sisters and his closest friends. But he was going to have to tell all of them that this was happening again.

Every time that he revealed the truth to someone, it got harder to say. Every time that he told someone that he was dying, he had to watch a different variation of the same reaction, and it tugged at him harder every single time. Was it going to start over again? Or was he going to have to pick up where he left off? The last person he told in the dream didn't fare well upon hearing the news, and neither did he. But was he really going to have to start all of this over again.

"I can already tell you're jumping to conclusions," Lisa said. "There is no need to worry. Whatever tumors you have within your cerebellum at the moment are not only non-life threatening, but they won't become so for at least five years, and even that is the worst case scenario. It is much more likely that they won't be affecting you for another estimated ten to twelve years. If I was on the verge of coming up with a cure to your condition in three weeks, not to mention I was operating without allowing myself any sleep, then assuming I don't push myself as hard, I should be more than able to come up with a cure for you in less than five years."

At least five years. In five years, Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, and Lynn will have already graduated high school. Lucy would be starting high school, the twins would be in middle school and Lily would be in second or third grade. In the dream, he was so worried about how they would remember him, especially Lily. She would have no memories of him. The only stories being of how she had an older brother that died before she was old enough to start remembering things, but now, he didn't have to worry about that. Not for another five years anyway. Even that was a bare minimum. Lisa said that he probably wouldn't even be affected by it for another ten years or so.

In ten years, Lisa still wouldn't even be old enough to graduate high school. And here she was, at only four with a nobel prize and a Ph.D. It still bewildered him how amazingly genius she was. The girl was nothing short of a child prodigy that Lincoln had almost no choice but to admire. Sure he could deny it if he wanted, but there would be no point in it. Not only would Lisa be able to refute what he was claiming, but the rest of their sisters would immediately jump to Lisa's side on the matter. Not to mention he would be lying to himself in a situation like that. He loved and respected his younger sister and her gift. He had a firm belief that she really would change the world someday.

And what would he do?

He wasn't going to die anymore, at least he had that going for him. But he still felt like he didn't have any talents compared to the rest of them. His entire goal before he passed was to leave an impact on all of those around him. He knew that he ended up doing that because all of his sisters seemed willing to change for the better. But what now? Now that he left an impact on them, what did he have left to do? Was his purpose in life completed? Was this all there was for him? To make his sisters happy? To make those who are friends with him happy? It was a noble cause, sure, but to him, it seemed lackluster.

The odds were in Lincoln's favor. According to Lisa, he wasn't going to be affected by his condition for at least another five years. And even then, that's assuming that Lisa couldn't find a cure for him. With Lisa working diligently, he would likely live a long life, maybe even surpassing pop-pop's age. But if his life's purpose is already finished, then what would be the point.

Those were dangerous thoughts. Thoughts that could lead down a dark road if he wasn't careful, which was why Lincoln forced himself to quit thinking about it. Sure, while he was in the dream he wanted to make a difference in his family's life, and he did just that. But why should he stop now? Sure, they've already committed to change, but why not keep giving them a reason to stay committed? Why should he stop trying to make a difference in their lives just because the dream was over? Just because there wasn't any reason to change?

The answer was simple. He wasn't going to. He was going to continue to make a difference to them as long as he lived. To them he was already the best brother they could ever have, but he knew his own problems, and he knew that he could be even better. You can't improve if you believe that you're already the best you can be. Lynn would agree. He resolved himself then and there. He was going to be there for them and impact their lives in the most positive way possible.

"Lincoln," Lisa spoke up. He forgot he was still in her room.

"Yeah sis?"

She was quiet for a moment, making Lincoln begin to wonder what she was doing, but then she spoke up, "I will not fail you a second time."

How did she fail him? Wait. Was she referring to the dream? About how she wasn't able to make a cure for him before the end of it? Why? Why was she still doing this to herself? It was completely unnecessary.

"I failed you once by not formulating the antidote for your genetic condition on time. Dare I say it was a stroke of luck that you ended up not leaving us when you very well could have. So I hereby make this promise to you. I will cure your condition before it affects you. Nothing is of greater importance to me right now than successfully synthesizing this antidote."

Lincoln looked at her in awe. He believed that she could do it, without a doubt. But at the same time he was bothered that she still thought it to be her own failure that he was doomed to the situation he was.

"Lisa," he began. "You never failed me the first time!"

"Yes I did!" she said, breaking into tears, "I..."

"No... you didn't." he kneeled down to his level and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked down at the ground as tears rolled down her face. "If anything, I failed you. Because despite what I tried to tell you and myself, I was secretly wishing that you could find a cure, when I should have been focused on wanting to spend time with you. Now it's my turn. I will not fail _you_ a second time."

Lisa wiped her tears off of her face, slightly wetting her green sweater. Before she could say anything, Lincoln pulled her into a hug. She felt his arms wrap around her small torso. "Lis... All I want is for you to be happy."

She remained motionless for a second, listening to the beat of Lincoln's heart. It was so soothing, so calming. Then she reached around him as best she could with her short arms. "I love you brother."

"I Love you too Lis."

* * *

On the outside, it seemed like Lori was resolved, and in a way she was. She was resolved to change for the better. To stop being so angry all the time But what she wasn't expecting, was the dream. The dream shattered into a million pieces her view of what their family was supposed to be. Eleven children. That dream made one of them leave the picture entirely, reduced to just ten girls instead. Waking up, once again shattered what she thought was reality. She was tired of constantly going back and forth, never knowing whether or not what she was living in was reality or not.

Lori was always the one to act as if she was in authority, sometimes even accidentally doing it when her parents were home. But it was difficult for her to do that. It wasn't easy to put on a commanding face when you knew you had so many other problems. Even today, when she was taking the lead, talking at the breakfast table to all of them, she was faking a lot of it. Some of it was genuine. When she told them the rule about everyone no longer having to stay out of her room, she meant it. When she told them that they needed to act more like Lincoln, she meant it. In hindsight, she didn't say anything that she didn't mean to say. But what she was doing the whole time was faking her confidence.

She still didn't believe Lincoln was alive.

She knew that he was, there was no denying it, and yet, she didn't believe it. No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she just wasn't able to accept the fact that Lincoln was still alive. She saw him die right in front of her eyes, yet he was walking around the house as if nothing had really happened. It could have just been a mirage, a concoction that her mind created to fool her into thinking that he was alive. Every time she saw him, she would pull him into a hug to try and confirm her suspicions, but instead of just whiffing her arms through him, she would actually grasp and hold onto him. She wouldn't let go for fear of making him feel uncomfortable, but she still shivered every time he was there, like she saw a ghost.

After seeing Lincoln's new clothes, she strolled back to her room and laid on her bed. Normally, her first instinct would be to call her boyfriend and tell him everything that happened. But not this time. She sunk into her bed on her back and stared at the ceiling, doing absolutely nothing. Thoughts were whizzing through her mind. Why was it just a dream? Why did Lisa even do this experiment in the first place? How was this going to affect everyone? Was Lincoln really still alive?

That last question was a doozy for her. What was it that made her think that he wasn't really alive? There was overwhelming evidence to support that he was, and none to support that he wasn't. So why? Why did she even question it? It should have been obvious, and yet, she just couldn't bring herself to believe it. And it tore her apart. She curled up on her bed and began silently sobbing. She hated feeling like this. What she desperately needed, was something that she wasn't able to get. Something that she thought she had, but later found out never happened. She needed closure. Without it, she was a mess.

Lori fell asleep after not too long, despite only having woken up less than two hours earlier.

* * *

"I no longer require your presence male sibling. You may leave."

"Are you sure Lisa? You don't want to play a game or something?"

"I only play games that require a high level of concentration and intellectual stimulation."

"I know how to play chess..."

"Apologies brother, but your skill level and my own are vastly different. You would not be able to provide the bare minimum that I require in order for it to be considered a challenge for me. Not to mention, I also have to begin working on your cure."

"Oh, okay." Lincoln felt slightly offended at that statement, but tried not to let it get to him. After all, this was Lisa.

"Please don't take what I said the wrong way. It's not your fault that my own intellect is so great that only the best would even be considered a challenge for me. Even computer simulations that I have created are still not up to my standards."

"Umm..."

"Never mind... Thank you for your assistance."

"Okay..." he said, confused. "Anytime," he closed the door behind him and went into the hallway. He noticed that the door to Lori and Leni's room was open and began walking in that direction. Peeking in, he saw that Lori was slumped on her bed asleep. She didn't bother with the covers. Leni wasn't in the room, but he did see something draped across the sewing machine. It looked like she started on something before leaving. He shrugged and went to his own room.

He realized that he still had on the outfit that Leni had made for him. Not wanting to ruin it, he took it off and exchanged it for something more comfortable. The outfit was awesome, perfect in every way, but it just wasn't meant for lounging around the house. It was something that was more fitting for fancy outings, such as one of Lola's pageants, or for Christmas or Easter church services.

After changing back into his normal clothes, he went downstairs and found Lily playing with her blocks on the floor. Leni was sitting on the couch watching, completely mesmerized by toddler. What was she doing? Was she really just watching Lily play? Or was there something else going on here? Lincoln walked behind Lily and sat down next to his older sister on the couch. He was now determined to find out what was going on.

Leni didn't seem to notice when Lincoln sat down, but he wasn't that fazed by it. He just watched Lily play with her blocks, chuckling every so often at her. Maybe if he did the same thing that Leni was doing, he would get an idea as to what she was thinking. Nothing came to mind watching Lily play though and eventually, the infant hobbled away into the kitchen where their mother was waiting to give her food. Leni was still staring at the ground with a completely empty look on her face, as if Lily was still there, playing with the blocks. What was she doing?

"Hey Leni."

He didn't get a response. Was there really something going on? What was she thinking about, if she was even thinking about anything?

"Umm, Leni?"

"Hmm, oh, hey Linky. Didn't see you come in."

She sounded a little down, but then again, this was Leni. You never could know. "Is something up?"

"Well, the ceiling is up, the sky is up, planes are up..."

"No... Leni..." Lincoln sighed. "I mean, is there something wrong?"

"Oh..." Her facial expression darkened just a little bit. "Yeah..."

Lincoln moved closer to her, but her own mind was somewhere else. At first she didn't do anything, she just continued that same mesmerized glare, like she wasn't even paying attention. Nothing else happened for a few minutes, which slightly discouraged Lincoln. But he was determined to find out what was wrong with Leni, so he stayed put for nearly five minutes. Still, nothing happened. He hadn't given up, but he was at the point when he would just come back later and figure something out. So, he stood up and was about to go back upstairs, but before he could, right as he passed in front of her, Leni grabbed onto him and pulled him into her arms, wrapping them around him. It was surprising to say the least.

"I'm really happy that you're alive Linky."

That was when Lincoln broke down. He allowed himself to fall into his sister's arms and be embraced by them. She held onto him tightly enough to be able to feel the warmth, feel the kind of love that Leni was giving, yet at the same time, it wasn't so tight that he was suffocating. It was the perfect hug, by who other than one of his ten perfect sisters.

When the tears finally escaped his eyes, he didn't even try to stop it, not that he would have been able to anyway. He allowed them to fall onto his shirt, wetting it slightly while Leni continued holding onto him, tears coming from her own eyes. She was just so happy that he was actually alive. It was so upsetting to have to watch him leave them, and the thought that now, he didn't have to, made her overjoyed. So much so to the point where she couldn't hold it in anymore. They didn't care if anyone saw them. All they wanted was to embrace each other, forever and ever.

* * *

"Hey, Leni!"

"Hey Linky, how's my favorite little brother doing?"

"I'm good, hey, I need your help with something!"

"Anything for you bro!"

Leni followed her six year old brother up to his new room. Their parents had recently converted the Linen closet into a new bedroom for Lincoln. With as many girls as they had, they knew that the only boy was going to need at least a little privacy. Even if they did end up constantly barging into his room, at least he had his own place. Besides, with a couple girls beginning to start _that_ stage in their life, he was gonna need a place to get away from them.

Lincoln opened the door to his room with Leni following closely behind. There was a dresser on the left side and his bed just barely fitting into the side opposite, other than that, there wasn't anything else there. There were no posters on the walls, nothing hanging from the ceiling, and not even a bedside stand. There was a ton of stuff on the floor and on his dresser and bed; books, toys, model planes, and other various knick-knacks. There was no order to any of it: no wonder he needed Leni's help.

"So, like, what do you need help with?"

"I don't have a closet Leni! So I can't hang up any of my clothes!"

"What!?" Leni exclaimed. "That's awful! All of your clothes are gonna get wrinkled!" If she was being honest with herself, that wasn't the only problem she saw, but if that was his number one priority, then it was her number one priority too.

"That's why I need your help!" Lincoln started rambling. "If I can't wear my clothes if they're wrinkled! And if I can't wear any of my clothes, I have to stay here and I can't go to school, and I can't see any of my friends, and Lori's going to literally turn me into a human pretzel, and... and..."

Leni swooped in and hugged Lincoln, holding onto him tightly in an attempt to get him to calm down. He stopped breathing rapidly and his heart rate decreased significantly. "It's okay!" she started. "We're gonna figure this out okay! Don't worry about it." A light switch turned on in her head. "Actually, I've got an idea!"

Leni left Lincoln's room and ran downstairs to find something. It wasn't too often that Leni had an idea, let alone a good one, but there was a reason Lincoln trusted Leni with this and not anyone else. Leni was not only good at making dresses, but she was also an expert interior organizer. When Leni and Lori were moved into a room together, she not only figured out a way for both of them and all of their things to fit, but she did it with extra space for both of them. Even when Lori had her own room, she still had trouble finding extra space for things.

Leni rushed back into Lincoln's room with a brown wooden rod in her hands with gold stoppers at each end.

"Leni, what are you doing with that?"

Stepping over some of the books scattered across the floor, Leni climbed up onto the dresser, and stuck the rod between the walls, perfectly fitting. She climbed back down and admired her handiwork. "There, you can hang your clothes right there!"

"Wow! Leni, you're awesome!"

"Aww, thanks." She was about to leave the room, but noticed that there was still something missing. She came back into it and stared for a moment, looking around the room trying to figure out what she thought was missing. Figuring it out, she ran out of his room again, returning this time with wooden plank, what looked like decorative corner pieces and some nails and a hammer. She climbed on top of the dresser again and started banging nails into the wall. Five minutes later, Lincoln had a bookshelf right above his clothes. Not to mention she had taken the liberty to hang up his model plane and his toy dragon on the rod that his clothes were hanging on. "There! Now it's perfect!" Lincoln sat on his bed in amazement at what Leni had just accomplished. All of his books were off of his floor and the top of his dresser now had room for more comic books and video games. How did she figure all that out? Leni was a mystery to him sometimes, but he loved her anyway.

Leni left the room and, on accident, Lincoln slammed the door behind her. She turned around and looked at the door for a moment, a gloomy expression beginning to form on her face. Why did he slam the door? Did he even mean to? After all, he was only six years old. Leni dismissed it as nothing after a minute and was about to walk off, but she felt someone wrapping their arms around her waist, taking her by surprise.

You're awesome Leni!" It was Lincoln.

She turned around to face him and hugged him back. He broke away from her after about two seconds and then planted a quick kiss on her left cheek before running back into his room, closing the door behind him. Leni blushed slightly and began lightly rubbing where he kissed her.

She smiled at the closed door and said, "Why does he have to be so cute!?"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! I know this chapter is a little short compared to the rest of them in this story, but hey, I finally got one out. I was originally going to make it longer, but I got kind of stuck after the flashback so I decided to just end the chapter there. Hopefully I can get the next one out pretty quick. Pretty quick being maybe two weeks at best.**

 **As always, please leave a review even if you don't have anything for me to improve on. I do ask that if you do have some critique for me, that you would tell me what I did, and then tell me how I can improve in the future, don't just bash and hate on me.**

 **Thanks again for reading!**


	6. Post Awakening - Chapter Four

**Thanks again to everyone for reading this story. I think after this I'm going to start putting Author's Notes exclusively at the end of the chapter instead of both. This chapter is going to Focus on Lynn, Lola, and Luna, especially Luna. No spoilers. I really hope you all enjoy, here's the next chapter of "Requiem for a Loud - Fan made ending"**

* * *

 **Post Awakening**

 **Chapter 4 - The show _will_ go on**

What was wrong with her. She should have been over it by now. It had been over a day and there still wasn't any progress made. "It's nothing." she told herself. "Just gotta keep training and it will eventually go away."

What had happened with Lucy the previous day wasn't something that Lynn was expecting. Lucy was always gloomy and thinking about death, but that was something else, and it was starting to affect her psyche too. She thought that if she kept hitting the bag harder then it would just go away, but it was still there, lingering, festering. It was going to become something that she wasn't going to be able to handle if she didn't push it away, but for some reason, she couldn't. No amount of training or practice could make it leave.

The sun had finally come over the horizon and was now casting diagonal rays of light through the tree onto the ground. Lynn had been out here since the crack of dawn. After going for a quick jog, she went to the backyard and began wailing on the punching bag. She had been out here training for at least an hour now and didn't show any signs of letting up.

"Ugh!" Lynn groaned as she threw her hands up. What was it that was making her feel this way? Angry with herself, she ran over and kicked a soccer ball that was lying motionless on the ground. It bounced off of the side of the house and whizzed back, hitting her square in the nose, knocking her over as well. It didn't hurt, at least, not that bad, but now her nose was bleeding and she had to go inside to take care of it.

As she was walking back to the house, she pinched her nose to stop any blood from coming out. How did this happen again? Oh yeah, she was angry at herself for letting Lucy's gloomy mood get to her, so she kicked the soccer ball and hurt herself. And to top it all off, now she was back to being angry again. At least the pain provided her with temporary relief from her thoughts. How much longer was she going to be like this?

Walking into the kitchen, she turned right. Up in the cabinet closest to the refrigerator, there was a plastic box filled with medicine, bandages, and other items that first aid may require. She opened the cabinet and brought the box down onto the table with one hand, still holding her nose with the other hand.

"Lets see," she said in a nasally voice, digging through the box. "Vitamins? No... Ibuprofin? Maybe... Spongebob Band-aids? Heck no! Ah, there it is."

Lynn took out a small bottle with sharpie written on it. "Nasal Spray for Nosebleeds" After she took off the cap, she unplugged her nose and jammed the narrow end into her nose, giving the bottle a good squeeze. After that, she stuffed some tissues in her nose and began her way upstairs.

"What happened this time?" Lola asked from the living room snarkily.

"Stupid ball bounced off the tree and hit me in the nose," she replied in a nasally voice. Wait. Why did she say the tree? The ball bounced off of the house. Was she really that upset with herself?

"Ha! Can't say I didn't see that coming."

Lynn rolled her eyes and ran back upstairs to her room. With the paper towels still stuffed up her nose, she took her pitching net out of her closet and grabbed one of the baseballs that was sitting on the floor. She threw and she kept throwing, hitting the target nearly perfectly each time. Anyone that didn't know much about sports would watch in amazement at her pinpoint accuracy. Even some people that would consider themselves knowledgeable about sports would be impressed, but not Lynn. There wasn't much to show for it, but Lynn knew that she had a slight hitch at that moment. The ball would never hit dead center, but rather, just a few millimeters to the left. Something that was unnoticeable to the untrained eye, but to Lynn, it was obvious.

The hitch was a result of the funk that she was in from talking to Lucy. Of course. This didn't happen on a regular basis, or even at all. Not just the hitch in her shoulder, but how she felt at the moment. Whenever Lynn and Lucy talked to each other, even about something serious like this, both of them always ended up going their merry ways, not worrying about whatever it was. But this time was different. She didn't know how or why it was different, but there was something that was able to make her tell.

It wasn't because of the dream. If it was, she would have been feeling this way before Lucy's chat. It wasn't because she hadn't had breakfast yet, although that probably would help. So what was it?

"Lynn? Are you okay?"

"AHH!" She jumped and swiveled around to see Lincoln standing in her doorway. "Oh gosh, I thought you were Lucy!"

"Sorry," he smirked, rubbing the back of his head. "So, other than hitting yourself in the nose, whatcha been up to?"

"How did you know I hit myself in the nose?"

"I was finishing up a popsicle and happened to glance outside right when you did. It was hilarious, I was hoping Luan caught it on video. So anyway!"

"Oh." She couldn't let him know that something was up, "just training. I technically missed out on three weeks worth of practice because of you!"

"Well whaddaya say I join you?"

"Would you!?" she exclaimed. Why was she so excited about this all of a sudden? What was there to be gained from having him practice with her? More importantly, why did her funk suddenly go away? It was like it was never there in the first place. "Come on! Let's go!" she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the backyard.

Was it really just because she wanted to hang out with Lincoln? Why? Why did something so seemingly inconsequential have such a huge impact on how she was feeling? Maybe that was just it. Maybe the talk she had with Lucy made her want to do something with Lincoln, and the reason that she was feeling so down was simply because of the fact that she hadn't been able to yet? But there was no way that it could really be that simple! She talked with Lucy and got down, in a funk, but then hanging out with Lincoln fixes the problem? It didn't make any sense! And yet, at the same time, it did make sense. She was feeling down because she wasn't getting to hang out with her little brother. But now that she was doing just that, whatever darkness she had in her heart melted away. She was with Lincoln, and that was all that mattered to her at that moment.

They started off playing football, then went to baseball and kickball. Such an intense practice session like that was normal for Lynn, but Lincoln, despite sometimes being able to keep up with her, had to stop and rest every so often. Lincoln went inside for a few moments, claiming that was just getting a drink of water, but it seemed to be taking much longer. He was back outside before too long though and they continued playing again. As they were passing a soccer ball back and forth to each other, Lincoln asked a question.

"So, Lynn."

"Yeah?

"Remember how in the dream, when you said you wanted to stay in my room more often?"

Lynn recalled that memory fondly and a radiant look briefly crossed her face before she forced it to turn expressionless. "Yeah? What about it?"

Lincoln shrugged and said, "I don't know. I thought maybe, even though the circumstances have changed, you would still want to do that?"

Lynn blushed a little bit at this. She didn't know how to respond to that. Sure it would be great if they could do that more often, but the whole reason she wanted to do that was to spend as much time with him as possible before he passed. Now that he was alive, what was the point? Why would she want to do that anymore?

Why wouldn't she?

Lynn was standing there, thinking while Lincoln was waiting for an answer. Finally, she looked up at him and nodded. "That would be nice."

She wasn't always one to show her soft side, but when she did, no one ever let her live it up, except Lincoln. He was the only one who actually enjoyed seeing that side of Lynn. The side of her that she didn't show in public, sometimes not even in private. She lived her entire life trying to be the tough girl, but even she needed a break from that now and then, and hanging out with Lincoln a few nights a month would not only help with that, but it was also even more time being spent with her brother, not just her brother though, her favorite sibling.

This wasn't just for Lynn though. Lincoln also had his motives. He had learned more about Lynn than he thought he ever would and he wanted to know more. He wanted to know more about all of his siblings. He already knew them all fairly well, but he wanted to know more than just what kinds of things they obviously liked, and this was his way of doing that.

* * *

"Stupid Lynn, always getting herself hurt." Lola muttered to herself as she was sitting on the living room couch. Lynn had just rushed up to her room with a bloody paper towel in her nose. She deserved it for being so stupid with her training.

Like the others, Lola had began reflecting on the events of the previous few days while vaguely paying attention to a rerun of "The Dream Boat." Everything happened so quickly. One minute, she was bawling her eyes out in her room, terrified that Lincoln wasn't going to be there anymore, and the next, she woke up in the basement, as if none of it had ever happened. None of it did ever happen. But it felt like it did.

Why did Lisa have to create that stupid machine in the first place. A princess shouldn't have to deal with something like that. But was she really a princess? What did they do in her eyes? Were the princesses in the television shows all snobby and got whatever they wanted? Just like Lola? Sometimes. But thinking even more about it, she realized that nobody liked those kinds of princesses. The ones who get whatever they want just because they can. She didn't want to believe it, but she knew that if she was a real princess, she would be one of those. A Spoiled Rotten, Good-for-nothing waste of space.

She didn't think she was too terrible though. There were occasions where she helped everyone out. She convinced everyone to pitch in to get that red underwear for Lincoln, despite the fact that she thought it was weird. Her and Lana, despite being nearly polar opposites, worked together quite well. There was also the time when she baked cookies for everyone for letting them down in the reading competition. She had her moments, but even she had to admit that they were few and far between. Thinking about it even further, even those spoiled rotten princesses in the movies did nice things for people, but only when it benefited them in some way.

How often did Lola do that? How often did she do things for people only because it benefited her somehow? Did she ever do nice things for people when she didn't prosper from it somehow? Even the time that she bought Lincoln's favorite red underwear was because she knew that it wasn't fair that he couldn't do his thing and the rest of them could. She only did it to ease her own conscience. If she had no sense of guilt, she wouldn't have felt like it was necessary to do what she did. The more she thought about it, the more often she crossed off of her list moments where she thought she was being nice, each one of them ending up only being because she had something to gain from it. She slowly began spiraling into a bout of self depreciation the more she let herself dwell on it, eventually getting to the point where she couldn't even look up anymore.

Lola was only ever nice when she knew she was getting something in return or when she felt guilty, and it made her feel terrible.

The sound of Lincoln and Lynn running down the stairs briefly distracted her from her thoughts, even startling her a little bit. She suddenly felt guilty for talking the way she did to Lynn. She wasn't doing anything except what she loved. It wasn't the first time she had gotten hurt, heck, even Lola got hurt sometimes doing some of the more advanced ribbon routines. So what made her act out in such a way towards Lynn? Towards Lana? Towards all of them, especially Lincoln?

Lola turned off the television, now utterly disappointed with herself. With her head drooping low, she jumped off of the couch and made her way back to her own room. If she was mad, it was only at herself. Not even a tea party with her favorite stuffed animals would help now. It wouldn't be the first time she thought about this, about how terrible of a sister she was. But every time, she managed to convince herself that she wasn't, that no matter what kinds of things she put the rest of them through, that she was still a good sister. No matter how many times she blackmailed them, threatened them, and even actively fought them for her own selfish desires, she thought that she was a good sister. But this was different. Every time that thought came to her mind, it was promptly pushed away by other memories of her own selfishness.

She couldn't hold it in anymore. Every little thought that passed through her mind was taking its toll, constantly making her feel worse than before. And Lola, known as one of the toughest ones in the house, broke down and cried.

It wasn't her physical appearance that made her seem tough. She was only six years old, anyone could take her on physically in a heartbeat if they wanted to. But it was her knowledge of her available resources paired with her ability to lead and flawlessly execute plans that made her more intimidating than even Lori sometimes. She was considered tough not just because she knew exactly what to do and how to do it. Oh no. She knew that if she broke down in front of any of her siblings, the intimidation factor would dissipate into nothing, completely ruining whatever dominance she had established in the Loud House Hierarchy.

But when she realized how terrible she had been to her siblings because of this, it was like a switch was flipped. All of a sudden, she didn't want that anymore. She didn't want to be seen as intimidating, at least not by her siblings. She wanted to be seen as a sister they could trust, someone they could count on, and her reputation hadn't exactly allowed that for her. She wasn't allowed into the Siblings' secrets club because she couldn't be trusted. She had to do something about it. She had to change the way that they thought about her, but in order to do that, she first had to change herself, and that was the hard part.

Lincoln came back into the house for a glass of water. There was plenty of noise coming from the entire house, but from one room, there was a strange lack of silence. Lola and Lana's room. Lana was outside playing in the mud, but Lola was nowhere to be seen. She wasn't in the kitchen and she wasn't in the living room. Unless she was in the bathroom, which wasn't likely, she had to have been in her own room. But what was she doing in there that required complete silence. He walked up the stairs to find the door to their room slightly opened, and inside he could hear sniffling.

Lola heard him push the door open and she quickly tried to compose herself before turning around. When she did, it was clear that she had been crying as the mascara was running down her face. She didn't notice it. Instead of saying something, he immediately went over to her, picked her up, and hugged her, taking her by surprise. Was it really that obvious that she was crying? It didn't matter. She wrapped her arms around him as well, and resumed her crying. He had no idea what this was about, but he knew that he needed to be there for her. Lynn was tough, she could wait. Lola, despite the way she acted sometimes, was still just a six year old girl. A six year old girl who, just over a day ago, watched her brother die. She needed someone, and she was glad that someone was him.

Lola held on tightly to her elder brother as the tears fell down her face. How was she going to tell him why she was doing this? Was he going to understand? Was he finally going to snap at her? Or was he just going to brush it off like nothing and try to blame himself as usual? She wasn't going to let him do the latter. No matter how hard he pushed, she was going to insist that he didn't do anything.

Lincoln sat down next to her on the bed after she had calmed down some more. He began stroking her soft blonde hair as her sniffling slowed down. He was waiting for her to say something, but she never did. Figures. He didn't mind asking her though.

"So, why were you crying?"

She didn't respond for a few seconds, but after sniffing one more time, she finally replied. "I've been such a mean sister to you and everyone else. I thought that this whole time I was a good sister to you guys, but, I can't think of anything that I've done where I was just being nice."

"Oh, that's not true," he scoffed. "You've done tons of things for us, you baked us those cookies, you bought me that really nice red pair of underwear..."

"But I only did those things because I felt like I had to..." she retorted. "I only made the cookies because I felt like I owed you guys for making us lose that reading competition. And your underwear? I only bought those because it was totally unfair to you. Even I know better than to be unfair to someone."

Lincoln pondered for a moment as Lola's head drifted to his shoulder. Tears were beginning to leak out of her eyes now. Who was he to say that she wasn't thinking that when she did those things. He wouldn't dare tell her that she was lying even if she was, so what could he do now? Not to mention he couldn't just tell her to quit it, because not only would that not work, but she would probably just feel worse about herself. If he could blame himself for it, he would, but none of them had been letting him do that recently and he assumed Lola was going to do the same. How was he going to fix this? She was only six, why was she even thinking about this kind of thing in the first place?

Why was she thinking about that in the first place?

"Why does a six year old girl need to be thinking about what kind of a sister she is anyway?" he said out loud. She looked up at him with interest. "If you ask me, you're too young to even be worrying about that kind of thing. Don't get me wrong, you always need to be good no matter what you're doing. But you shouldn't be worrying about what you've done before. Leave the worrying about being a good sibling to the bigger kids, and you just worry about being the best Lola Loud you can be. It's okay if you were mean to us before, you're only six. As long as you're trying to be a good sister, that's enough for me. Okay?"

She reflected on his words before wiping the tears away from her face, taking her mascara with it. Slowly, she nodded her head.

"Good. Now, I'm gonna go play with Lynn some more. If you want, we can have a tea party after I'm done."

"Yes, definitely!" she replied with a big smile.

"That's the Lola I know," he said. "Well, you better make preparations! This is going to be one heck of a tea party!"

She gasped, "you're right! I need to invite the guests, make sure we have cookies and a table set up! There's so much to do!"

"I'll be back in a little bit, okay?"

Lincoln left the room with Lola giddily preparing for her next tea party. He was glad that she was happy. She had never told anyone, but he knew that she was always so worried with being accepted. The whole incident where she blackmailed them was more than enough proof for Lincoln. If Lisa wasn't so busy with science, she would have noticed as well. Really, that was all that Lola wanted. Lincoln was just the means to help her feel that way. And if she was happy, then so was he.

* * *

That night, noise was coming from all ends of the house. Lola had invited all of her sisters and Lincoln of course to her, what she called, "sibling exclusive party." None of her stuffed animals had been invited this time and at first Lola felt kind of guilty because they were always at Lola's tea parties, but she quickly got over it. Everyone was enjoying the tea and cookies that Lola had made, except for two of them. One was Lori. She claimed she wasn't feeling too good and wanted to stay in her room for the night. The other was Luna. She didn't give a reason for not coming, she just didn't show up.

Luna didn't even notice that all of her other siblings, excluding Lori, were in Lola and Lana's room, having a tea party. She was too focused on practicing this song that she had been having trouble with. It had an exceptional sounding chord progression, however it was extremely difficult. It started off easy enough with a G, going into a D, then an E minor. After that was when it became hard. It was composed of weird variations of major/minor seven chords, time changes, barred chords, and it changed to a key that was already difficult to play on the guitar, even when paired with easy chords.

Of course, just like the others, she was also trying her best to cope with what had just happened. Lincoln had just died in front of her less than a few days ago and she was dealing with it in the best way that she knew how. She wanted to believe that what she was going through was different that what the rest of them were, but backing out a little bit and looking at the bigger picture, she realized that they were all practically going through the same thing. To say that any of them were going through something different seemed a bit selfish and arguably pretentious to Luna. She could already imagine the argument in her head if any of them started going on about it.

 _"No, I was affected the most!"_

 _"No, I was!"_

 _"Don't make me throw this ball at your head!"_

 _"Siblings, I believe it is clear that the person who has been impacted the most by this circumstance, is myself."_

 _"Oh be quiet, you can't even feel emotions."_

 _"Oh, I beg to differ. I am harboring a great feeling of anger right now!"_

 _"Guys, this is literally getting us nowhere..."_

Luna didn't want to play the rest of that out in her head and went back to practicing her acoustic guitar. For her, it was easier starting on that and then moving over to her electric if it was needed. Most of these etudes she was playing were for acoustic guitar, but there were some, like the one she was practicing at that moment, that were for an electric guitar. She wouldn't have thought that her private lesson teacher would even let her play her electric guitar in lessons, but she was surprised when he not only let her do just that, but ended up giving her material specifically for electric guitar as well.

When she started running through the piece again, there was nothing but perfection. The first few chords provided little challenge, but as Luna went into the more difficult part of the song, that was when she started getting flustered. On her final run of the night, she came further than she had before, but her fingers cramped up as she switched from one strange chord to another. The pain made her accidentally drop her guitar on the carpet, making a loud thump followed by each of the strings vibrating from the force of the impact and she grabbed her wrist in agony. After stretching out a little bit, she decided it was probably about time to finish practicing for the night, and she put her guitar back in her case under her bed and then flopped back on her bed. She could hear the laughing emanating from the room that the twins occupied and briefly considered joining them, but decided against it. She had too much on her mind anyway, as did all of them.

After changing into her pajamas, she drifted off into a dreamless sleep that didn't last very long. It was close to midnight when she was awoken to the sound of the door to her room opening. She rubbed her eyes and and made out the silhouette of a boy with short hair, a cowlick coming up from the back of it. This seemed oddly familiar.

"Lincoln?" she whispered so as to not wake Luan, who was sleeping quite peacefully.

The door stopped opening, making the hinges groan slightly.

"Luna?" the boy asked. "Are you awake?"

"What are you doing bro?" she asked as she stumbled out of her bed, barely able to make sure Luan stayed asleep, and strolled up to the opening of her room. What was he doing? Did he need something? Whether he did or not, she was his older sister and she needed to make sure that he was okay.

He grabbed Luna's hand and she felt a sense of Deja Vu, "Luna, come with me."

"Where?" she asked him.

"Outside."

This whole situation felt eerily familiar. Like everything that she had done just now had all happened before. She could swear that he came to her room late one night and asked her to come outside with him. She didn't bother to close the door to her room as she led him down the hall and down the stairs. Did he really want to go outside? This late at night? Maybe he just wanted to take a walk around the neighborhood.

Even these thoughts she was having, it was burning in her mind. She knew that this had happened before? Why couldn't she remember it though?

All of the pieces began to fall into place when he took a sharp turn into the kitchen and led her out the back door. It finally clicked when she saw the tent set up in the far back corner of the backyard. Immediately a flood of emotions filled her head, giving her goosebumps all over. They were barely out of the house when she felt a lump begin to grow in her throat. Why was he doing this? Was he trying to make her cry? Because it was working. Tears had already started forming on her face just thinking of that night. It was a night of regrets, of sorrow, of pain. So much pain. Why? Why was he doing this?

She stopped in the middle of the backyard and released her hand from Lincoln's. She nearly turned around right then and was about to go back inside, but something stopped her in her tracks and she remained planted there on the grass, staring at the tent. He turned around and could see the look painted on her face, the tears that were falling from her eyes glistened in the moonlight. Seeing her like that was both mesmerizing and painful. He loved Luna and he thought she always looked beautiful, however, seeing her cry like this made his own heart break and he almost began crying himself.

"Luna," he began with a compassionate smile. "I know what you're thinking. Just trust me." He extended his hand out to her again.

She looked up at him with a desperate look on her face, only to see him looking right back at her, with a pleading smile on his face. It was nothing that she hadn't seen before, but there was so much sincerity in his voice and he just looked so cute smiling like that. Rejecting that would be like rejecting kisses from a puppy. She just couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Okay..." she reluctantly replied and placed her hand in his and they continued walking through the dewy grass.

He guided her into the tent, following his directions to sit on the left side. She sat down on the blankets and he took a seat opposite of her.

"What are you doing this for?" she choked.

"I just want to talk Luna."

She sighed, careful not to raise her voice at him this time. What did he have planned this time? Why did he find it necessary to bring her out here, in the same tent they used in that moment? He reached up to the tent ceiling and grabbed the electric lantern, flipping the switch on it. The light softly illuminated the tent, bright enough to where they could both see, but soft enough to not only not totally blind either one of them, but also to set the mood for what Lincoln had planned. Dimmer lighting was generally more inviting anyway. She looked into her brother's eyes, beautiful as always. His pillows and blankets were scattered about the tent, but there was one thing missing this time. Her guitar.

"Lincoln..."

"I love you Luna. You know that right?"

It started the same as last time. "I know," she replied, more tears beginning to come out of her eyes. "And I love you too linc... but why? Why did you bring us out here?"

She buried her head into her knees and sobbed. Lincoln wanted so badly to explain to her why he brought her out here, to make her stop crying, but seeing her like that made him begin to choke up. "Luna..." he started. "I don't... please stop..."

He crawled over next to her and nuzzled into her shoulder, wrapping his arms around hers, doing whatever he could to make her stop crying. He hated seeing her like this, especially now, considering everything that had happened. Everything that they went through, everything that had happened in the past three weeks had ended up being fake, and it was supposed to be okay now, but it wasn't. Luna was crying and it didn't seem like he could do anything to stop it.

A song popped into Lincoln's head. It wasn't much, but it was worth a shot. He took his head off of her shoulder and sat up.

 _"Some people long for a life that is simple and planned_

 _tied with a ribbon_

 _Some people won't sail the sea 'cause they're safer on land_

 _to follow what's written..."_

Lincoln stopped as he tried to remember the words to the next part. Luna chimed in before he could.

 _"But I'd follow you, to the great unknown."_

The two of them started singing together.

 _"Off to a world that we call our own"_

It worked. Luna had stopped crying. Lincoln had stopped singing, but Luna continued on.

 _"Hand in my hand and we promised to never let go_

 _We're walking the tightrope_

 _High in the sky_

 _We can see the whole world down below_

 _We're walking the tightrope"_

Lincoln smiled as he listened to his sister sing one of her new favorite songs.

 _"Never sure, never know how far we could fall_

 _But it's all an adventure that comes with a breathtaking view"_

They both began singing together again.

 _"Walking a tightrope with you"_

The two of them chuckled briefly as they finished the chorus. Then they looked at each other for a while, it was like they were in their own world with no one to tell them what to do. It didn't take long however for Luna to remember where they were and she looked down at the ground. Lincoln put his arm around her shoulder.

"I didn't really expect you to think much of coming out here with me." he started. "I definitely wasn't expecting you to... break down like you did. But after thinking about it, I realized why you felt so strongly about not wanting to do this."

Luna sighed as she continued looking at the ground. She trusted him to the ends of the Earth, _"to the great unknown,"_ and that's why she followed him out here. It wasn't his fault. He didn't know that she would react the way she did. If all it did was remind her of that night, then she wouldn't have reacted the way she did. But it reminded her of so much more than just that. She wasn't just reminded of all the tears that they shed, of the time that they spent together. She was reminded of what she did the night before. How she got drunk, hooked up with a guy much older than her, and then yelled at her family when she thought they didn't get it. There was one other reason though that was above all the others.

"I didn't realize it until just now, but, that night..." Lincoln couldn't help himself anymore. He began tearing up just thinking about it, Luna knew what he was about to say and began tearing up herself. "That night, we were practically saying goodbye."

The two of them both broke into tears and held onto each other. They could have held onto each other all night long, crying, hugging, sleeping. None of it would have stopped them from releasing each other. Even after they stopped crying they were still holding onto each other. Lincoln still had things to say, but would he dare break this up, just because he had to say something? The real question was, why did he need to?

They didn't know how much time had passed. Both of them were laying on the ground, half covered in the blankets, Luna had one arm around her bro and Lincoln was leaning on her shoulder. "I brought you out here because I wanted to tell you something."

Luna looked over at him, "What was it bro?"

"I wanted to tell you that I'd like to do things like this more often."

Luna frowned and felt herself beginning to choke up, "I can't... I'm not going to be able to... every time we go I'll just..."

"But it doesn't have to be like that." Lincoln said. Luna looked at him inquisitively. "I know why you don't want to do it. But there's one thing that makes this different from then." He paused for a moment and smiled. "I'm here Luna, and I'm not leaving."

She looked up at him and saw his smiling face, making her smile too. Progress. Lincoln continued, "not to mention, if we do this often enough, we can make new memories. Ones that aren't just dreams either, real memories. Things that we're going to want to remember."

Luna had to admit that Lincoln was onto something. Not to mention that she didn't think it was a bad idea either that they did stuff like this more often. But she just couldn't help feeling hesitant. She didn't want to have to reimagine the scene that played out in the dream every time she came outside to do this. Even then, just thinking about it put a somber expression on her face. It would be too much. Lincoln could see the hesitant look on her face and his mood soured just slightly.

"It's okay. If you don't want to, then... this will be the last time we do this."

"No..." she responded. Lincoln looked over at her in surprise. She continued staring at the ground. "I want to do this. I want to come out here every so often and chill out with my little bro. I just... don't know if I'll be able to handle it..."

Lincoln understood that. Just a few moments ago, when he realized why she was really crying, he almost regretted coming out here himself. But this was something that he wanted to do. He wanted to spend more time with Luna, learning more about her, about what other kinds of things she likes, just like with Lynn. He wanted to know more.

"We don't have to if you don't want to." He told her.

"No Linc. We can and we will." Despite Luna's hesitancy, she knew that it was a good idea. Even if she didn't want to have to, she would get over it. This was something that Lincoln wanted to do, so it was going to be for him.

"Are you sure?"

Luna took a deep breath and paused for just a moment. "Yes. As a matter of fact, we'll make this like a sleepover. Just you and me bro. Playing card games, shredding the axe, eating junk food..."

"Reading comics?"

"If you want."

Lincoln liked the sound of this. His sister went from gloomy and depressed just thinking about it, to energetic and excited in a matter of minutes. She wasn't faking it either, Lincoln could see the excitement on her face, and it made him all the more excited.

The two of them chatted for hours, making plans for what to do next time and talking about other things as well; music, comics, videogames, anything that was brought up they talked about until they got so tired that they nearly collapsed on each other. Luna was laying on her back with both hands behind her head. Lincoln was lying next to her in a similar position. He started singing again.

 _"E_ _very night I lie in bed_

 _The brightest colors fill my head_

 _A million dreams are keeping me awake"_

Luna recognized the song almost immediately and began singing along with him.

 _"I think of what the world could be_

 _a vision of the one I see_

 _A million dreams is all it's gonna take"_

Lincoln fell asleep cuddled up next to Luna. The rocker girl looked straight up with her hands still behind her head. The ceiling of the tent had a see through mesh in it that Luna could see the night sky through. The stars and moon looked beautiful, especially that night. Softly, with Lincoln snoring next to her, she finished the tune.

 _"A million dreams, for the world we're gonna make"_

* * *

 **Okay, I'm going to be honest with you guys, I was not planning the whole scene where Lincoln takes Luna outside at all, and neither was I planning that this chapter would be over 6,500 words! (not including the ANs). I started writing where Lincoln comes and wakes Luna up in the middle of the night and got a bit stuck there, but after a few minutes of thinking, I realized the connection between this and chapter 15 of "Requiem for a Loud" and told myself that this was too perfect of an opportunity to pass up, so I went there. I know it's not at the same level as the actual story itself, but I hope you still liked it anyway.**

 **So, as I said in the Author's note at the beginning of the chapter, from this point forward, if I have something I want to say, which I always do, I will put it down here at the end of the chapter. I will no longer be making Author's notes at the start of each chapter.**

 **As always, thanks to everyone for reading and please leave a review for me, even if you don't have anything good to say. I would rather know if there's something that I'm doing wrong or bad than to continue writing badly. That being said, if you do have criticism, I ask that it would be constructive criticism only. I want to know what I'm doing wrong, but I don't want you just hating on me and bashing my writing. Give me something to improve on. Thanks again!**

 **Song lyrics used were from "Tightrope" and "A Million Dreams" both from "The Greatest Showman."**


	7. Post Awakening - Chapter Five

**Post Awakening**

 **Chapter 5 - Lucy**

"hmm, let's see here..." Lucy tapped the pencil against her lips as she struggled to find something that rhymed with hunt. "Blunt... runt... front... punt..."

There were plenty of words that rhymed, but none that seemed to work with what she was write. Normally the darkness of sitting in the vents would help her concentrate, but that afternoon, for some reason, she seemed to notice every single creak and groan that echoed throughout the ventilation system of the house. She could even hear her own siblings louder than she normally could.

"Grunt... stunt... what else is there?" she thought to herself. "Didn't Lori call Carol Pingery a..."

BANG!

Lucy covered her ears as the sound of the vibrating metal echoed to the ends of the house. "Sorry Luce!" Lynn had thrown her baseball into the vent again, forgetting that Lucy was in there.

"It's okay," she responded bleakly as she went back to her writing. "I'll have to ask Lori what that means later."

Lucy was drawing a blank. There were dozens of words that rhymed with hunt, and yet she couldn't find the right one. If only Lincoln were in the vents with her, he would know what to do, he always did. Every time she got stuck on one of her poems, not only did he have an immediate response for it, but good responses too. As if he knew what he was doing.

Lucy gave an actual sigh, more of annoyance than anything else. There was no way she was going to get anything done with all the noise going on around her, so she closed her poem book and began making her way back through the air ducts. Lucy was still fairly small, small enough to maneuver around the vents with ease, but it was getting more difficult the older she got. Eventually, she would have to resort to going outside on the roof. Maybe she would get lucky and catch a vampire during a full moon.

It was surprising when she got back to her room to find that Lynn wasn't even there. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe for once, she would be able to write on her own bed, without being interrupted by anyone. She peeked outside the door, looking left, right, and up. After quickly checking down the stairs to see no one coming up, she raced back into her own room at a speed that even Lynn would be impressed by. She set up her ink well and quill on her bed before opening up her poem book in front of her. She started on a new entry instead of continuing on the previous one. She considered it bad luck if she wrote one poem with two or more different writing utensils.

Some thoughts came to her mind; thoughts about death. Why? Lucy thought about death all the time, but after what had happened recently, that was the last thing she wanted to think about. She had to write something though, so she started putting the words on paper, letting her emotions flow. She wrote a grand total of seven words before someone came into the room. She noticed, but she didn't look up.

The white haired boy slowly inched into the room, trying to make as little noise as possible. He knew that when she had her ink well out, she didn't want to be interrupted, and he tried to enter as silently as possible.

Without looking up, Lucy said, "Lincoln, I know you're in here. What are you doing?"

He looked over at her with tight lips. He had been caught. It looked like she was still writing.

"I was uhh... trying to sneak in to scare you?"

"Not convincing enough," she replied, still staring down at her book, making an attempt to look like she was still writing, she wasn't. "Try again."

"Umm," Lincoln looked up at the ceiling and then glanced at his sister. He didn't notice earlier, but her cheeks were glistening slightly. If he could lift her bangs up, it wouldn't have been that hard to tell that she had been crying.

"Lucy?" He said, walking closer to her bed. "Are you okay?"

The closer he got, the easier it was to notice the tears from her eyes. If he hadn't decided to look closer, he wouldn't have even noticed. Her voice was stoic as ever, unwavering despite her clear state of desperation. Even her facial expression remained unchanged, and yet, the tears were as evident as ever. He got right next to the bed, grabbing a tissue from Lynn's bedside stand (she used it for nosebleeds), and wiped his sister's face.

Why was she doing this? Her voice didn't waver and she didn't think she was making a different facial expression. So why? Why couldn't she make the tears stop falling? Why was it noticeable enough to have Lincoln come over and check on her? Why did he come check on her anyway? Wasn't he in here to do something else? Why did he care so much about her, about what she wanted?

"Lucy..." he started. "You can trust me."

His words were comforting as they always were. He wasn't the master of persuasion for nothing, but she didn't need him to comfort her right now, at least, she didn't think so. She thought that being in solitude would fix the problem, like it always did before. But she couldn't have told herself a bigger lie. She didn't even realize it was a lie, but being distraught like she was had that kind of an effect. What she really needed was to be held by him, to be comforted. Nothing would work better than that and she knew it, but in her haze of emotions that she was feeling, she didn't want to.

Before Lincoln knew it, he was on the ground, rubbing his right cheek. He barely caught her running out the door of the room towards the stairs. The sound of footsteps echoed up to the room, quickly followed by the sound of the front door opening and then slamming shut. Despite the pain that was now radiating in his cheek and through the rest of his face, his own situation wasn't what he was worried about. He had been slapped harder by stronger people and stayed standing. The only reason he fell was because he wasn't expecting it. Neither was he expecting Lucy to run out of the house like she did.

She ran out of the house. And she didn't bother telling anyone where she was going.

Immediately, the boy got up and gave chase, ignoring the stinging sensation in his cheek. He jumped down the stairs and whizzed out the front door. The first thing he noticed was that no one's bikes or scooters or roller blades/skates were missing, meaning that wherever she went, she ran. He stopped at the side of the road and looked in both directions. Nothing. Lucy was quick on her feet, but not that quick so she had to still be close to the house. Where would she go though?

Lincoln's first instinct was to look up in the tree, but she wasn't up there. Not to mention, her black clothes would stand out too much in the bright green of the leaves. He ran around the left side of the house and jumped the fence into the backyard. Again, Lincoln checked in the tree, hoping he would find her there. Nothing. Not even a hint of a black dress that might have been snagged on a branch.

The more Lincoln ran around, outside and inside the house, the fewer places he could think of as to where Lucy may have been. It wasn't like she could just disappear, right? Then again, this was Lucy. She could sneak into a room without anyone noticing and scare the living daylights out of all of them if she so wanted. If she could do that, then certainly she could also slip away, anywhere, completely unnoticed. Besides, there was still one place that Lincoln had yet to look. If she wasn't there, then she must have been... Lincoln didn't want to finish that thought.

He walked around to the side of the house where the criss-cross structure of the side of the porch met the wall of the house. Right after the boundary line there was a square wooden plank that had been painted white. Lincoln knelt down and removed the door-like object, revealing what was basically more storage for their pack-rat family. Slowly, he crawled inside, musty air hitting him in the face. It wasn't just the smell either, he could feel the chill surrounding him and it made him shiver, goosebumps forming on his entire body. How Lucy was comfortable down here, assuming she was even down here, was beyond him.

The boy crawled in further to investigate, being forced to remain on his hands and knees as he traveled deeper into the darkness of their home. Finally, after crawling for what seemed like an eternity, he heard sniffling. He didn't exactly have to take a wild guess at who it was. Lincoln came right up next to the duchess of darkness and wrapped one arm around her, almost immediately, she leaned into his side.

She didn't understand why she wanted this. Her entire life she had always thought that what she needed the most was to be alone, but she could never have been more wrong, especially in this situation. The two of them didn't say a word to each other. They just remained in the cold dark underbelly of the beast that is the Loud House. Lucy was glad that her brother was alive, despite her actions saying otherwise. She wouldn't have had it any other way, and neither would Lincoln.

* * *

 **Okay. So, I started writing this chapter with the intention of doing the rest of the siblings except for Lori (because I've got big plans for her) and Lily, because she wasn't part of the dream. But I didn't do that and I will tell you all why in the next chapter, which, btw, will be the last chapter of this story and also probably the longest chapter I've ever written, like... in all of my stories.**

 **Anyway. If you leave a review, don't be hateful, however I do appreciate constructive criticism and whatever... Huge bombshell coming at the Author's note of the next chapter.**


	8. Post Awakening - Final Chapter

**Post Awakening**

 **Chapter Six - Closure**

Lori had become distant to the rest of the Loud Family, as if she was never really there. After that breakfast the had where she had pretty much inspired all of them to not just treat Lincoln better, but to treat each other better as well, she disappeared. She rarely came to eat with them and when she did she always looked completely disheveled. Her hair was a mess and her blue eyes lacked the conviction that she had coming out of the dream. It was like they were looking at a zombie version of their older sister.

This was especially the case when she looked at Lincoln. She was always staring at him as if she had seen a ghost, and in a way, she had. They all had. Waking up from that dream wasn't something that they were expecting. But even after a week, after most everyone else had accepted the fact that Lincoln was here to stay, Lori continued her trance.

The girl rarely left her room, only when she had to use the bathroom or when she was so hungry to the point of making the others worried about her. Leni was the only one who was in there with Lori regularly, but she didn't even have a clue as to what was going on. Lori had been a mystery to everyone and nothing that any of them could do worked. Even Lincoln tried to work his magic, but all she could do was stare at him like he was merely a phantom, creeping him out in the process and making him leave. They would give anything to have their older sister back.

She wasn't sleeping either. Every night she would just lie on her back in bed, refusing to allow herself to go to sleep. Of course, she drifted off every now and then and greatly regretted it every single time, as it only made things worse. Every time she fell asleep, she would wake up, not knowing whether it was a dream or reality. Her mind was still recovering from the trauma of losing her only brother. Was she ever going to go back to normal? She wondered this herself when she wasn't trying to convince herself that what she was in wasn't a dream. In her mind, Lincoln was still dead, and every time she saw him, it only made things worse. She knew he was alive, but she didn't realize it.

* * *

Lincoln had been enjoying his time. A week after the dream he realized that all of his sisters were totally and utterly being over-protective of him, with the exception of Lori of course who refused to even interact with any of them. Someone would be with him at all times unless he was in his room. They had actually started to respect his privacy for once! But despite that, it was still rather annoying. having to deal with them all the time like that.

But just a week and a half after he woke up, he started to realize something. They weren't just being over-protective, they were practically doing whatever he wanted. He would be taking out the trash and Lynn or Luna would suddenly come up to him and offer to take it from him. He tried to insist on doing it himself at first, but gave up, as they were better at insisting on things. He was at the point now where he was expecting it from them.

"Let me take that trash out for you! _Don't worry about it!_ "

"Let me take your plate to the sink! _Don't worry about it!_ "

"I'll clean your room for you! _Don't worry about it!_ "

Don't worry about it, that was what they said every single time. It was like they didn't think he could do anything which to him, was kind of annoying, but at the same time, he was grateful for it. It meant that he could sit back and relax in his room all day and not do a single thing, and none of them caught on to his trick. It was the exact opposite of what happened with Lynn when she thought that he was bad luck. Lincoln was set for a while, however there was one thing still bothering him. Lori.

He was worried about her. All of them were. She would hardly eat and she never came out of her room. Why? He knew he had to do something, but every time he tried, she just acted like he wasn't there until he gave up and left. What was it going to take to get her back he wondered. How long was she going to be like this?

* * *

Lori walked beside the casket, wherein Lay Lincoln's lifeless body. It was sunny, despite the somber mood that had encompassed all of them. The grass below her feet flattened with every step she took and with the continuous trampling of her other sisters, stayed flat. Ronnie-Anne and Clyde were there as well as both of their families, tears were streaming down the African-American boy's face with Howard trying to console him. Ronnie-Anne refused to budge emotionally and tried to remain as stoic as possible, but even she couldn't help a single tear streaming down her slightly darkened cheek. Bobby was trying his best to stay strong for his sister, but it was hard for him too.

Despite the fact that it was sunny, it was still cold. The previous few days had been dark and dreary, making the temperature drop to the low 40's despite the fact that it was spring. The breeze didn't help either, crawling up underneath Lori's dress and making her shiver. Luna and Luan seemed to be fine, but Leni especially seemed to be suffering. Most everyone else didn't seemed to be bothered too much by the weather.

As their parents finally passed by the casket, they slowly made their way back to the seats situated right at the front, dragging themselves along until they finally sat down. The service was short and simple, preacher got up and said a few words, then a few close friends of the family said a few more words and then it was over.

The men that brought Lincoln to the grave site, the pallbearers, slowly let him down into the ground. Lori was sitting in between Leni and her mother with the Santiago family sitting right behind them. Rita was crying, leaning into Lynn Sr's shoulder. Leni had muffled sobs escaping her lips and her mascara had started running, but Lori couldn't do anything. Why not?

The funeral ended and the family all got into vanzilla which was parked on the grass just outside of the grave site and went home. As soon as Lori got home, she fell asleep.

"Lori! Wake up!" Lincoln said. "It's almost 2 in the afternoon."

Another dream. That wasn't the only one she had. In the previous nights she had had dreams that seemed to continue off of the dream given to them by the dreamcaster. Why this was happening she had no idea. Lisa tried to work with her, but even her efforts proved fruitless. Oh well, Lori would get over it eventually, hopefully.

"Lori, what's wrong?"

Lori couldn't bear to tell anyone what had been happening with her, the dreams. Sometimes she couldn't tell whether or not they were real, and it tormented her. She wanted desperately to believe that Lincoln was still alive, yet despite the overwhelming evidence, she just couldn't force herself to believe it. For goodness sake, Lincoln was standing right there in front of her! Why couldn't she just tell herself that that was him?

"Nothing's wrong Lincoln. Don't worry about it."

"I don't believe you..." the boy started. "But I'm going to leave you alone. I hope you're able to figure out whatever's happening."

He left the room and softly shut the door. Hearing his voice alone almost made her break down crying, but her own stubbornness to not let her siblings see her cry got the better of her. After Lincoln left the room, she started sniffling. Why? Why did it have to be like this? Why couldn't she just know once and for all that he was alive?

* * *

Another one. This one was on Lincoln's birthday. Everyone had taken the day off from work to go visit Lincoln's grave. They all left flowers on his gravestone and told him stories about what had been going on in their lives. Lynn talked about how she won the state championship in softball. Lana talked about how their tree was going. It was almost as tall as she was now. Lola told him about her pageants, Luna told him about her latest concert. All of them told him something about what they had been up to recently. More than anything, they talked about how much they missed him. About how they wish he was still here with them. Tears were shed to say the least.

Finally, they all made their way back to the van. All of them except Lori.

"Lori, are you coming?"

"Not yet. I want a minute to talk to Lincoln by myself."

Lynn Sr nodded and put his head back in the van.

"Hey Lincoln..."

"..."

"Other than today, the girls have seemed to be... fine..."

"..."

Lori sighed as she bent down on her knees. She pulled out a single white flower that she had been hiding from the others. "They've been doing good... as well as they can without you that is..."

"..."

"I've been trying but..." tears began falling from Lori's eyes. "It's just not the same... I need you more than I thought I did..."

"..."

"Lincoln..." she said through stifled sobs. "I need you... I need you so much..."

"..."

Lori dropped the flower on the ground as her hands went straight to her face. "I can't live without you..."

"Lori Wake up!"

Lori opened her eyes and saw Leni kneeling next to her bed with a concerned look on her face. Lori was on her side and she had tears in her eyes.

"Are you okay Lori?"

"No..." she answered.

* * *

 ** _Two Weeks Later_**

"Oh man... this is great!"

Lincoln strolled through the hallway with his head held high. His master plan that he had been working on for the past week had fully come to fruition. Because of what had happened, practically all of his sisters, except for Lori, she was still in a funk, would do everything for him. He didn't need to do any chores, and even if he did, all he had to do was pretend to be hurt, and they would all immediately rush to his side. He didn't have to do anything.

"Lincoln, could you wash the dishes please?"

"Sure mom!"

Lincoln smirked as he passed his mother, he waited until she was out of earshot and then pretended to fall over with a yelp. Within five seconds, two of his sisters, Luna and Lucy, who were sitting in the living room, rushed in to see what had happened. What they saw seemed much worse than it actually was. There was soapy water on the floor and he was sitting on his butt with his hand on his head.

"Lincoln! What happened!"

"Oh, it's nothing much. I just slipped."

He made an attempt to get up and faked pain when he did, acting like he hurt his knee. But in reality, he was fine.

"Dude. Let us help you."

He looked at the fake camera and smiled as his sisters practically carried him to the couch in the living room. "Brother. Let us do it for you."

"Yeah little dude, we're gonna take care of it."

He stretched his arms out on the couch and started relaxing.

On the other end of the house, Lori finally decided to get up and do something. She streched her arms and looked around her room. Her side was a complete mess, Leni's however was perfectly normal, as if nothing was wrong. Lori got up, and for the first time in 2 weeks, left her room to do something other than eat or use the bathroom. The first place she went was downstairs. Lincoln was sitting on the couch watching television, and Luna and Lucy were doing dishes in the kitchen. Lincoln looked back to see who was coming down the stairs and his eyes widened when he saw Lori.

"Lori!" Lincoln jumped off the couch and ran up to his oldest sister. She froze almost in shock with her arms to her side and her eyes wide. She wasn't expecting this. Of course she had been gone for a while, but this was a whole new level. Not to mention she was also still having doubts. What was she going to do?

"Lori?" Luna called from the kitchen. "What are you doing?"

She shrugged and made a noise that implied she was thinking "I dunno..."

Lincoln pressed his face into his lost sister's shirt.

"Lincoln?" he looked up.

"Yes Lori?"

"Why aren't you helping the others with the dishes?"

"He slipped and fell so we said we'd do it."

Lori looked at them quizzically. "Oh really?"

They both nodded their heads.

"Whatever..."

* * *

"Hey Lincoln, could you go sweep the kitchen real quick? It looks dreadful!"

"Not a problem dad."

Lori was in the living room reading a book at this time. She was watching Lincoln carefully, making sure he wasn't doing anything fishy. Lincoln began sweeping the floor of the kitchen and Lori looked away for five seconds and in those five seconds, Lincoln fell. This time, Lana and Lynn came rushing in to help.

"Interesting..."

* * *

Lori had been carefully keeping an eye on Lincoln for a while and she noticed something that none of the others did. He was totally faking his "Injuries" even Lisa with her intellect was fooled by his shenanigans. But Lori could see right through it. She tried to do the same thing too many times and was never able to get away with it. But Lincoln was able to do so because of what had happened recently. He was playing them like a master of a deck of cards. But even the most experienced masters had their flaws. And Lincoln's was that he wouldn't continue to act like he was hurt.

Finally, she set up her own chore for Lincoln to do and set her own plan into action.

"Hey Lincoln!"

"What's up Lori?"

"Would you mind taking out the trash in the bathroom? It's not completely full yet, but we need to start taking care of it before it overflows."

"Sure!"

Lori stood in place and watched him enter the bathroom. He closed the door behind him.

"Why do you need to close the door, you're only taking out the trash."

"Uh... hehe... you're right." he said as he opened the door. She continued keeping an eye on him as he took the bag out of the can and walked over to the stairs. She watched him as he went down the stairs and out the door. Finally, he closed the door to the outside. This is where her plan would go into action.

As soon as he got down the steps of the front porch, he pretended to trip and fall. When he did, he cried out.

Lori was watching the whole time through the window and she wagged her head in disapproval. Everyone else, sans the parents, ran as close to the front door as they could, only to be stopped by Lori.

"Watch..." she told them.

As much as they wanted to help Lincoln, they also knew that what Lincoln was doing was not hard, and they figured that maybe Lori had a point. So they watched and waited.

Lincoln sat on the ground and was grabbing his ankle, when no one came after ten seconds, he looked around, still grabbing his ankle. A minute passed and he wasn't grabbing his ankle anymore. Another minute passed and he stood up as if he was fine and scratched his head. They could see him mouth the words "Where are they?" Not just confirming Lori's suspicions, but also letting them know that he was faking it. Finally he gave up and took the trash to the garbage can.

"Has he been faking it this whole time?"

Lori nodded.

"So, he's never really been hurt?"

Lori nodded again. "He's been faking injury to get out of doing chores. And because of the dream, it's worked phenomenally. You guys didn't even notice it."

"You gotta hand it to him, he really is the man with the plan."

"So what are we gonna do?"

Lori stared them all down and said, "We're gonna confront him about it when he comes back."

"You guys saw all of that?"

Lori turned around to see Lincoln standing in the doorway. "Yes, we did. And we wanna talk to you about it."

"Why you little!"

"Lola!" Lori snapped, "That won't be necessary. No physical fighting, no wrestling, no human pretzels, just talking."

Lori sat down on the couch and patted the couch next to her. Lincoln came and sat down.

Lori sighed, "Lincoln... how long have you been doing this?"

"About a week now..."

The other sisters all looked at each other in shock. He had been doing it for a week and none of them had noticed it.

Lori sighed again. "Look, Lincoln. You can't keep taking advantage of the fact that we're all overprotective of you just because of that dream."

"Yeah man... not cool..."

"So you're gonna promise me that you won't do it again."

"Maybe..." Lincoln started. "What if I don't?"

"You won't be able to... I used to try it myself, I'll be able to see right through it."

"Oh..."

"Lincoln... We've all promised to change for the better in some way. I think now you need to do the same. Alright?"

Lincoln nodded his head.

Lori wrapped her arms around him. This was what she needed. She had been avoiding him because she was scared. Scared that she might do something to him on accident. It was true that she had a hard time believing he was really alive, but that belief stemmed from not wanting to hurt him. If he wasn't alive, then she couldn't hurt him, even on accident. But this proved that she could trust herself. After this change that she made, she could trust herself to keep that promise that she made to him, to all of them.

Lincoln was alive. And that was all they needed.

 **The End**

* * *

 **Well, I know I said that this would be the longest chapter yet, but after not even touching this for almost two months, I changed my mind. Sorry. I still think I was able to bring a good ending to this story anyway.**

 **Time for the big announcement that I was going to tell Y'all.**

 **I'm leaving the Loud House Fandom in general. It has nothing to do with something someone said or people being mean (if you can't take a little harsh criticism you shouldn't be a writer anyway). I've just lost interest in the Loud House. Again, like I said, it has nothing to do with something that someone else said, I just don't really want to do it anymore. Whether or not I want to keep writing is a different story, but as for Loud House Fanfics, I'm done. I had a great run and I Learned a lot of things about writing that I never would have been able to find out if I had never done this, but I am completely finished with writing Loud House Fanfics, and there's nothing y'all can do to change my mind.**

 **I would have quit sooner, but the reason I didn't is because I have a bad habit of not finishing things and I need to not do that. So I finished this one last story so that I would have no qualms about leaving. I will continue to keep up with the story that this fanfic is based off of, but once UnderratedHero finishes "Requiem for a Loud" I will no longer associate myself with the Loud House.**

 **Again, it's been a good run and I've learned a whole lot. Maybe one day when I'm bored I'll come back and write a one shot or something, but as of now, I am done with Loud House Fanfics.**

 **Thanks everyone and I leave you with these parting words.** **Be Careful, Be Safe, Make Good Choices, Be Nice, Be Sweet, and Be kind. I love you all!**

 **Goodbye.**

 **rctperson85 signing off - 7/20/2018**


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